||£Sti   LIBKAKV 


STARTLING  STATEMENTS 

=  OR  THE  = 

Downfall  of  the  Great  Republic 


Facts  and  Figures  for  the  People 


RALSTON  J.  MARKOE 


Copyrighted  by 

RALSTON  J.  MABKOE 

St.  Paul,  Minn. 

1910 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  author  of  this  volume  is  the  great-grandson  of 
Captain  Abram  Markoe  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution, 
who  organized  the  first  company  got  together  to  resist 
British  oppression,  and  who  presented  to  his  company 
the  first  flag  with  thirteen  stripes  ever  used  in  this 
country.  This  flag  is  still  carefully  preserved  in  Phil- 
adelphia, by  the  First  City  Troop,  the  company  which 
he  organized,  which  still  exists. 

The  writer  has  devoted  his  life  to  the  professions  of 
law  and  civil  engineering,  and  has  had  opportunities 
to  meet,  more  or  less  intimately,  persons  in  every  walk 
and  condition  of  life  in  every  section  of  the  United 
States  as  well  as  hi  several  European  countries. 


An  alphabetical  index  will  be  found  at  the  end  of 
the  volume. 


Chapter  Headings  and  Table  of  Contents. 


Chapter  I.  THE  REPUBLIC  IS  NO  MORE.  The  United  States 
an  Empire.  For  What  the  Republic  Was  Sacrificed.  Why  the  People 
Are  Losing  Faith  in  the  Federal  Authorities.  Taxes  a  Needless 
Robbery.  Franchises  are  Usually  Thefts. 

Chapter  II.  NATIONAL  WASTES.  Avoidable  Wastes  in  the 
United  States  More  Than  $6,000,000,000  a  Year.  Enormous  Waste 
From  Fires.  The  Remedy.  Railway  Accidents  More  Destructive 
Than  An  Invading  Army.  The  Remedy. 

Chapter  III.  THE  UNITED  STATES  LEADS  IN  CRIME.  The 
Remedy.  Fines  Encourage  Crime.  Frightful  Destruction  by  Sui- 
cides. The  Remedy.  Rugby,  Improperly  Called  Football,  More  De- 
structive Than  War.  Real  Football  a  Splendid  Game  and  Harmless. 
Rowdyism  Rampant.  Bad  Manners  Prevalent.  The  Remedy.  What 
is  a  Gentleman?  The  Most  Perfect  Gentleman  was  a  Workman. 

Chapter  IV.  THE  REMEDY  FOR  LABOR  TROUBLES.  The 
Great  Anthracite  Coal  Strike.  Its  Causes  and  Remedy.  Strikes, 
Their  Causes  and  Prevention.  A  Complete  Remedy  for  Industrial 
Disturbances,  Which  Has  Abolished  Them  in  Several  European  Coun- 
tries, Has  Been  Filed  Away,  For  Years,  Unused,  in  the  Department 
of  Commerce  and  Labor  at  Washington. 

Chaptep  V.  AMERICAN  WAGES  ALWAYS  FALLING.  Are 
Lower  Than  Wages  of  Chinamen,  or  Any  Other  Foreign  Workmen. 
Employers  Never  Pay  Wages  of  Industrial  Workmen.  The  Philoso- 
phy of  Life.  Making  Work  for  the  Unemployed.  Large  Cities  the 
Greatest  Danger  to  the  Nation.  Starving  School  Children.  How  to 
Avoid  Overstocking  the  Labor  Market.  How  to  Bring  Idle  Men  and 
Idle  Lands  Together.  Right  to  Hold  Meetings. 

Chapter  VI.  '  HOW  TRUSTS  ARE  FORMED.  How  a  Farmer 
Worked  for  Others  for  Nothing  and  Paid  His  Own  Board.  Rapid 
Transit  Aids  Trusts.  Causes  of  High  Prices  of  Food.  Why  Manu- 
factured Goods  Cost  So  Much.  Honest  Judges  are  Helpless.  Legal 
Precedents  Are  Destructive  of  Justice. 

Chapter  VII.  HOW  TO  DESTROY  TRUSTS.  How  an  Executive 
Stopped  the  Delays  of  the  Law.  Only  the  Executive  Can  Control 
Trusts.  The  Destruction  of  Trusts.  How  Two  Young  Men  Beat  the 
Fiour  Trust.  How  a  St.  Louis  Plumber  Beat  the  Beer'  Trust.  How 


the  Farmers  Broke  the  Local  Fuel  Trust.  How  the  Farmers  Broke 
the  Local  Combine.  How  J.  J.  Hill  Helped  the  Farmers  Break  the 
Elevator  Trust.  How  the  Farmers  Broke  up  the  Grain  Trust. 

Chapter  VIII.  MONOPOLIES  NOT  ALL  BAD.  A  Word  for  De- 
partment Stores  and  Trusts.  Envy  of  the  Rich  is  Folly.  Million- 
aires Poverty  Stricken.  Money  is  Never  Wealth.  Fads  and  Fashions. 
Cheating  in  Taxes  and  Customs  Duties  Prevented. 

Chapter  IX.  A  HOPEFUL  PROSPECT.  How  the  Farmers  May 
Own  the  Railroads,  Stockyards,  Packing  Houses,  the  Milk  and  Com- 
mission Business,  the  Factories  and  Banks,  Without  Cost  to  Them- 
selves. How  to  Keep  the  Boys  at  Home  on  the  Farms.  "Farming 
not  a  Commercial  Business.  Save  the  Boys.  Keep  the  Boys  out  of 
the  Professions.  Good  Advice  for  the  Boys. 

Chapter  X.  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE  IS  KIND.  But  Little 
Waste  Land  in  the  United  States.  Fuel  as  Easily  Raised  as  Turnips. 
Unlimited  Power  Going  to  Waste.  Water  Traffic  vs.  Railway  Traffic. 
A  Great  Chance  for  the  Farmers. 

Chapter  XI.  HAPPINESS  WITHIN  REACH  OF  ALL.  Happi- 
ness Can  Not  Be  Bought  With  Money.  Why  Everybody  Loved  Little 
Bessie.  The  Colored  Glass.  What  Cured  Mike  of  the  Drink  Habit. 
The  Earl  and  the  Miner.  The  Captain  and  the  Frontiersman.  How 
the  Pay  Roll  Was  Collected.  The  Dude  Engineer  and  His  Party. 
The  Lion  and  the  Artist.  The  Stage  Driver  and  the  Balky  Horse. 
The  Lady  and  the  Puppy  Dog.  The  Elephant  and  His  Tormentor. 

Chapter  XII.  CAUSES  AND  REMEDY  OF  HARD  TIMES.  A 
Guarantee  Against  Misfortune.  Success  in  Life  Guaranteed.  Alex- 
ander the  Great  and  Diogenes  the  Cynic.  Some  Examples  of  Thrift. 
A  Wise  Rule  for  Expenses.  Why  Building  Societies  Failed;  The 
Remedy.  Old  Age  Pensions  and  Postal  Savings  Banks.  How  to 
Abolish  the  Evils  of  Drink  Without  Closing  Saloons.  How  to  Abolish 
Jails,  Workhouses  and  Poor  Farms. 

Chapter  XIII.  THE  ARMY  AND  NAVY.  An  Army  of  Greatest 
Strength  at  Least  Cost.  A  Most  Powerful  Navy  at  Minimum  Cost. 
Why  Recruiting  is  Difficult.  Air  Ships  as  Engines  of  War. 

Chapter  XIV.  POSSIBILITIES  OF  AN  EMPIRE  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

Chapter  XV.  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE.  Where  There  are  No 
Jails,  No  Workhouses,  No  Idleness,  No  Want,  and  No  Taxes. 


PREFACE. 


The  historian,  Polybius,  writing  long  before  the  time  of  Christ, 
stated  that  every  nation  passed  through  three  forms  of  government, 
and  that  nothing  can  prevent  this  change,  although  many  circum- 
stances may  tend  to  cause  one  form  of  government  to  continue  for  a 
longer  or  shorter  period  of  time. 

The  primitive  and  most  natural  form  of  government  is  a  king- 
dom, of  a  paternal  or  patriarchal  character.  After  a  time  the  reign- 
ing family  always  becomes  more  or  less  despotic  and  addicted  to 
luxury,  especially  if  it  is  strictly  hereditary  in  one  family  line,  and 
this  destroys  the  efficiency  of  its  reign.  It  also  becomes  extravagant 
by  reason  of  its  luxury,  and  this  results  in  raising  a  needless  amount 
of  revenue,  which  is  first  felt  most  disastrously  by  the  larger  property 
owners,  and  they  combine  to  protect  themselves  from  the  exactions 
of  the  government.  This  brings  about  the  change  which  results  in 
an  oligarchy,  or  republic,  in  which  persons  supposed  to  represent 
the  mass  of  the  people  at  large  are  the  governing  body. 

It  is  always  a  matter  of  time  only  before  this  form  of  govern- 
ment also  becomes  oppressive  towards  the  poorer  masses  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  results  in  establishing  monopolies  for  the  benefit  of  a  favored 
class,  and  is  even  more  oppressive  than  a  monarchy,  and  more 
difficult  to  overthrow  because  it  represents  much  of  the  wealth  and 
power  of  the  nation. 

This  is  always  followed  by  some  thing  in  the  nature  of  a  revo- 
lution when,  either  the  people  endeavor  to  control  the  government 
through  persons  pledged  to  protect  their  interests,  which  is  a  democ- 
racy; or  in  the  assumption  of  the  supreme  power  by  some  one  man, 
who  possesses  the  confidence  of  the  people,  and  who,  for  a  time  at 
least,  governs  in  the  interests  of  the  entire  people,  and  in  this  way  a 
monarchial  form  of  government  is  again  established. 

Every  nation  in  history  has  passed  through  these  various  forms 
of  government,  some  of  them  but  a  few  times;  others  many  times 
in  the  course  of  their  history. 

The  United  States  is  following  exactly  in  the  footsteps  of  ancient 
Rome.  It  began  as  a  kingdom,  just  as  the  United  States  did,  when 
we  were  British  colonies  under  the  kings  of  England.  Later  Rome 
became  a  republic,  just  as  we  did  after  the  Revolutionary  War,  in 
which  we  gained  our  independence  from  British  oppression. 


As  Rome  expanded,  and  acquired  more  territory,  a  more  cen- 
tralized form  of  government  was  established,  and  the  empire  fol- 
lowed the  republic. 

The  United  States  also,  as  it  has  expanded  and  acquired  distant 
colonies,  has  passed  out  of  the  republican  form  of  government,  and 
has  become  an  empire,  with  a  centralized  government  which  has 
scarcely  any  resemblance  to  the  republic  founded  by  our  forefathers 
after  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 

There  are  persons  in  the  United  States  who  seem  to  think  that 
we  are  quite  different  from  other  nations  whose  history  has  been 
recorded,  but  this  is  a  great  mistake,  and  the  saying  of  King  Solo- 
mon, that  "There  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun,"  is  absolutely  true. 

In  the  minor  details  of  our  ways  of  doing  things  we  have  our 
peculiarities,  just  as  every  nation  in  history  has  had.  But  in  all  the 
great  problems  of  national  life,  such  as  government,  industrial  condi- 
tions, foreign  relations,  the  relations  between  the  rich  and  the  poor, 
the  tendency  of  the  strong  to  oppress  the  weak,  there  is  not  an  iota 
of  difference  between  us,  and  any  and  every  nation  that  has  ever 
existed,  excepting  in  so  far  as  we,  with  other  Christian  peoples,  have 
been  beneficially  influenced  by  the  teachings  of  Christianity;  for  the 
aspirations  and  weaknesses  of  human  nature  are  always  the  same, 
and  they  always  will  be  as  long  as  human  nature  exists. 

A  long  time  ago  a  writer  stated  that  "There  are  those  who  ride 
and  those  who  are  ridden,  and  all  strive  to  ricje,"  and  so  it  will  con- 
tinue as  long  as  humanity  lasts. 

There  is  not  a  problem  or  a  condition  of  human  life  that  has  not 
been  met  with  thousands  of  times  before.  Moreover,  practically  all 
the  conditions  of  human  life  that  have  ever  been  experienced  by  the 
human  family  exist  today,  so  that  somewhere  or  other  on  this  globe 
we  may  find  human  beings  now  living  in  very  much  the  same  way 
that  they  ever  did  anywhere,  or  at  any  time,  in  the  history  of  the 
human  race. 

It  is  therefore  the  part  of  wisdom  to  study  the  history  of  other 
nations  and  see  in  what  way,  and  with  what  success,  they  have  met 
and  dealt  with  the  various  conditions  that  we  have  to  deal  with;  for 
they  have  all  been  met  with,  and  dealt  with  before,  and  it  is  the 
purpose  of  this  volume  to  show  by  what  means  the  problems  which 
confront  us  have  been  successfully  met,  and  how  they  can  be  met 
by  us. 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  Republic  Is  No  More.     The  United  States  An  Empire. 

To  be  entitled  to  the  allegiance  of  a  people,  a  government 
must  be  beneficent ;  it  must  be  in  possession,  and  it  must 
be  strong  enough  to  maintain  itself,  and  to  control  all  those 
under  its  jurisdiction. 

If  any  individual,  or  combination  of  individuals,  is  strong 
enough  to  successfully  resist  the  government,  or  disobey  its 
laws  with  impunity,  it  has  failed  as  signally  as  a  business 
man  who  does  not  meet  his  financial  obligations. 

Judged  by  this  test  the  government  of  the  United  States 
has  lamentably  failed  in  the  most  essential  duty  of  civil 
government,  which  is  the  administration  of  justice,  and  the 
enforcement  of  all  its  laws,  for  a  number  of  individuals  and 
combinations  of  individuals  have  openly  defied  the  laws, 
and,  for  years,  have  disobeyed  them  with  impunity,  either 
because  of  the  impotence  of  the  government  to  enforce  its 
laws,  or  by  reason  of  the  connivance  of  those  whose  duty 
it  is  to  enforce  the  laws  without  fear  or  favor. 

As  I  write,  the  news  is  published  throughout  the  land 
that  the  glass  trust  has  finally  secured  control  of  the  man- 
ufacture and  handling  of  all  the  glass  in  the  country,  in 
open  defiance  of  the  statutes  forbidding  such  combina- 
tions, yet  not  a  single  arrest  of  those  who  have  committed 
this  crime  is  reported,  not  even  an  injunction  by  any  of 
the  courts  is  heard  of;  no  step  has  been  taken  by  any  rep- 
resentative of  the  legal  department  of  the  government 


10  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

towards  the  prosecution  of  those  who  have  established  this 
trust  by  the  destruction  or  forcible  absorption  of  all  com- 
petitors ;  and  within  the  past  few  years  the  Tobacco  Trust,  in 
open  defiance  of  existing  laws  and  natural  right,  carried  on 
its  nefarious  practices,  and  appeals  to  the  executive  and 
judiciary  brought  no  relief,  and  it  continued  unchecked, 
until  a  state  of  local  civil  war  arose,  and  some  of  its  victims 
destroyed  the  property  of  the  trust  and  of  those  in  collusion 
with  it,  wherever  it  could  be  found,  and  this  is  the  only 
check  known  to  the  writer  that  it  has  ever  met  with. 

At  present  an  attempt  is  being  openly  made  to  obtain 
control  of  many  of  the  most  important  banks  in  the  country, 
and  strenuous  opposition  is  being  made  to  the  attempt  to 
establish  government  savings  banks,  such  as  are  in  success- 
ful operation  in  several  countries,  to  the  great  advantage 
of  the  great  mass  of  the  people  who  are  in  need  of  safe 
depositories  for  their  savings,  not  subject  to  the  vicissitudes 
which  in  the  past  have  so  often  wiped  out  the  hard  earned 
savings  of  thousands  of  toilers. 

At  the  same  time  a  high  Federal  official  is  working  to  aid 
land  sharks  to  obtain  possession  of  some  of  the  most  val- 
uable properties  not  yet  stolen  from  the  people,  and  those 
who  are  sworn  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  people,  instead 
of  checking  him,  or  removing  him  from  office,  are  actually 
supporting  him  in  this  disgraceful  course,  despite  the  pro- 
tests which  are  being  made  against  it  by  American  citi- 
zens who  are  entitled  to  consideration  when  opposing  such 
an  outrage,  and  the  number  of  these  great  monopolies  has 
increased  rapidly,  until  at  present  every  staple  article  of 
consumption  is  controlled  by  a  trust. 

The  effect  of  the  Civil  War  was  to  put  an  end  to  the  Con- 
federation which  composed  the  Union,  and  in  its  place,  es- 
tablish a  Federation,  and  so  reverse  the  order  previously 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  11 

existing,  under  which  the  several  states  were  recognized  as 
sovereign  and  independent,  being  held  together  by  a  vol- 
untary Confederation,  which  was  represented  by  the  Presi- 
dent and  the  Congress  with  such  powers  only  as  were  dele- 
gated to  them  by  the  mutual  agreement  of  the  individual 
sovereign  states;  while  under  the  Federation,  the  President 
and  the  Congress,  instead  of  being  recognized  as  having 
such  powers  only  as  were  delegated  by  the  states,  were,  on 
the  contrary,  held  to  be  the  supreme  power,  over,  and 
superior  to,  the  several  states,  which  were  no  longer  rec- 
ognized as  sovereign  and  independent  states,  but  merely  as 
integral  parts  of  one  whole,  exactly  as  independent  busi- 
ness concerns,  when  absorbed  by  a  trust,  lose  all  their  inde 
pendence  as  separate  concerns  and  become  entirely  depend- 
ent upon  the  one  all-absorbing  organization  which  has 
swallowed  them  up.  Briefly  stated,  the  nation  was  organ- 
ized as  a  great  trust,  instead  of  as  an  aggregation  of  inde- 
pendent concerns. 

This  was  a  long  stride  towards  the  concentration  of  a 
centralized  power,  such  as  is  essential  to  the  establishment 
of  an  imperial  government  in  the  truest  meaning  of  the 
word. 

Since  that  most  important  change  in  our  national  organ- 
ization events  leading  up  to  the  formation  of  a  fully  de- 
veloped empire  have  followed  one  another  in  rapid  succes- 
sion, and  among  the  most  important  of  these  are  the  fol- 
lowing : 

First.  The  enactment  of  a  United  States  statute  placing 
the  state  troops,  known  as  the  national  guard,  under  the 
direct  control  of  the  president,  instead  of  that  of  the  gov- 
ernors of  the  various  states,  as  had  always  been  the  case 
previously,  until  they  were  formally  mustered  into  the 
service  of  the  United  States  in  case  of  some  great  emer- 


12  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

gency,  such  for  instance,  as  the  Civil  War,  or  our  recent 
war  with  Spain. 

Second.  Within  recent  years,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  has  annualled  laws  enacted  by  individual 
states  for  the  control  of  transportation  companies  within 
their  own  borders,  although  these  laws  had  beep  sustained 
by  the  Supreme  Courts  of  the  states;  and  has  set  aside  in- 
junctions and  writs  of  mandamus  by  the  state  courts,  issued 
for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  the  state  laws,  and  has  over- 
ruled the  writs  of  state  courts  granted  for  the  purpose  of 
preventing  the  formation  of  trusts  and  unlawful  combina- 
tions in  restraint  of  trade  within  the  several  states. 

Third.  Another  characteristic  of  an  imperial  and  highly 
centralized  government  is  the  employment  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  spies  to  enable  the  government  to  keep  watch  of 
the  people  everywhere,  and  report  anything  deemed  in  any 
way  dangerous  to  the  government.  Such  a  system  as  this 
has  become  very  highly  developed  in  this  country  of  late 
years,  as  the  following  figures  will  show : 

TOO  MANY  SPIES. 

Tawney  Says  Government  Pays  Nine  Millions  Annually  For 

Service. 

By  Associated  Press  to  the  Dispatch. 

Washington,  Jan.  11,  1910. — "Yesterday  Representative 
Tawney  of  Minnesota,  said  that  the  resolution  introduced 
in  the  house  on  Saturday  providing  for  the  appointment  of 
a  special  committee  of  five  to  investigate  the  inspection 
methods  of  the  government,  does  not  contemplate  an  inquiry 
concerning  the  operations  of  the  secret  service. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  13 

His  desire  is  to  arrive  at  the  facts  concerning  the  ap- 
pointment of  special  agents  and  inspectors,  aside  from  the 
secret  service  bureau,  and  he  has  been  engaged  in  this  in- 
quiry for  several  years.  He  points  out  the  fact  that  while 
in  1896  only  166  of  such  employes  were  carried  on  the  roll 
at  a  cost  of  $1,3000,000,  by  1907  the  number  had  grown  to 
three  thousand,  and  the  expense  to  the  government  to 
$9,000,000. 

"Indeed,"  said  Mr.  Tawney,  "there  are  so  many  in- 
spectors and  special  agents  abroad  in  the  land  that  we  are 
rapidly  developing  a  system  of  espionage  into  even  the  do- 
mestic affairs  of  the  people  of  the  country,  and  I  think  it 
time  the  facts  should  be  known." 

Fourth.  Foreign  colonies  have  been  conquered,  and  are 
governed  from  Washington  without  representation  in  the 
National  Congress. 

Thus  the  centralization  of  all  the  military  power  of  the 
nation;  the  destruction  of  the  legislative  and  judicial  inde- 
pendent power  of  the  states,  and  the  government  of  vast 
areas  of  territory  and  of  immense  populations  without  rep- 
resentation in  our  national  assembly,  the  Congress,  which 
is  supposed  to  represent  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  have 
been  accomplished,  so  rapidly  that  the  majority  of  the  peo- 
ple appear  not  to  be  aware  of  these  most  important  facts 
which  have  resulted  in  placing  us  under  an  imperial  gov- 
ernment just  as  truly  as  the  governments  of  Austria,  Ger- 
many and  Russia  are  imperial;  and  today,  at  the  public 
functions  in  Washington,  even  the  formalities  and  cere- 
monial are  carried  out  in  a  manner  similar  to  those  which 
are  customary  upon  such  occasions  at  the  imperial  courts 
of  the  Old  World,  and  now  the  only  things  required  to 
complete  the  resemblance  are  the  assumption  of  the  title 
of  emperor  and  the  imperial  insignia,  with  a  life  tenure  of 


14  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

office  by  the  Chief  Executive,  and  this  is  likely  to  happen. 

An  important  difference  between  the  imperial  govern- 
ment in  North  America  of  today,  and  the  imperial  govern- 
ments of  the  Old  World,  is  that  in  the  Old  World  the  gov- 
ernments are  in  a  controlling  position  in  all  affairs  of  na- 
tional importance,  and  individuals  gain  power  by  affiliat- 
ing with  the  government,  while  here  the  imperial  govern- 
ment is  merely  the  tool  of  the  moneyed  interests  and  trusts 
of  the  country,  which  it 'obeys  in  the  most  obsequious  man- 
ner in  all  things,  and  the  government  relies  upon  these 
interests  for  its  support,  instead  of  controlling  them,  but 
it  will  be  a  matter  of  a  short  time  only  when  both  will  be 
united,  either  by  the  resumption,  for  the  nation,  by  some 
master  mind,  of  the  vast  interests  that  have  been  hereto- 
fore stolen  from  the  people  by  the  collusion  of  those  in  au- 
thority with  the  miscreants  who  have  been  the  gainers,  at 
the  expense  of  the  people,  and  who  have  received  vast  prop- 
erties and  great  sums  of  public  treasure  without  compensa- 
tion or  value  of  any  kind  paid  for  them;  or  the  trusts  and 
monopolies  will  become  centralized  and  absolutely  absorb 
the  governing  power  in  the  nation. 

Whether  this  result  be  brought  about  rightfully  or  wrong- 
fully, in  either  case  it  will  give  the  imperial  government 
sufficient  power  to  maintain  itself,  without  the  necessity  of 
raising  any  revenue  by  taxes  collected  from  the  people,  and 
such  a  government  will  continue  to  rule  until  overthrown 
by  a  foreign  power,  or  by  a  revolution  by  the  people,  in 
consequence  of  its  having  become  so  oppressive  and  careless 
of  the  interests  of  the  people  as  to  be  considered  by  them 
insupportable. 

This  fate  has  befallen  every  highly  centralized  govern- 
ment in  the  past,  sooner  or  later,  and  the  length  of  life  of 
such  a  government  depends  entirely  upon  its  adherence  to 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  15 

the  fundamental  principles  of  justice;  therefore  the  great 
maxim  to  be  followed  by  a  successful  government  may  be 
expressed  in  that  ancient  saying,  "Let  justice  be  done 
though  the  heavens  fall." 

Recent  Presidents  Have  Forced  the  Election  of  Their 
Successors. 

Not  many  years  ago,  shortly  prior  to  a  presidential  elec- 
tion, the  Secretary  of  the  United  States  Treasury  at  Wash- 
ington, deposited  $100,000,000.00  of  the  people's  money  in 
a  bank  in  New  York  City,  without  security  of  any  kind,  and 
without  making  known  to  the  people  why  this  was  done, 
and  it  caused  much  comment  at  the  time. 

In  the  ordinary  course  of  business  this  money  soon  found 
its  way  into  many  banks  scattered  over  the  country,  which 
in  turn  loaned  it  to  business  men  in  the  usual  way. 

After  it  had  been  distributed  in  this  manner,  and  shortly 
before  the  presidential  election,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury notified  the  bank  in  which  it  had  been  originally  de- 
posited, that  if  the  candidate  favored  by  the  administration 
were  elected  there  would  be  no  hurry  about  the  return  of 
this  money  to  the  United  States  Treasury,  but  if  the  op- 
posing candidate  should  be  elected  the  entire  $100,000.000.00 
would  be  called  for  at  once. 

The  Secretary  knew  perfectly  well  that  the  collection  and 
payment  of  this  great  sum  of  money,  without  previous 
notice,  wrould  be  impossible.  Consequently  every  bank  that 
had  loaned  any  of  it,  and  every  business  man  who  had  bor- 
rowed a  part  of  it,  was  forced,  quite  regardless  of  his  own 
judgment  or  inclinations,  to  work  with  all  his  might  for  the 
election  of  the  candidate  favored  by  the  administration. 
Therefore  this  sum  of  $100,000.000.00  of  the  people's  money 


16  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

was  being  deliberately  used  as  a  corruption  fund  to  force 
the  election  of  the  administration  candidate. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  people's  money  was  thus  being 
openly  used  to  purchase  votes  for  the  administration  candi- 
date for  the  presidency,  many  thousands  of  factory  hands, 
commercial  travelers  and  other  employes  in  the  commercial 
world  were  laid  off  and  notified  that  if  the  administration 
candidate  were  elected  their  places  would  be  open  for  them 
on  a  certain  specified  day  after  the  election,  but  that  if  the 
opposing  candidate  were  elected  there  would  be  no  work 
for  them. 

In  this  way  every  one  of  these  employes  was  compelled  to 
work  for  the  election  of  the  administration  candidate, 
whether  he  wished  to  or  not,  as  the  bread  and  butter  for 
himself  and  family  depended  upon  his  obtaining  work  again. 
Moreover  the  business  depression,  artificially  caused  by  this 
general  suspension  of  business,  which  was  .brought  about 
for  the  express  purpose  of  forcing  the  election  of  the  ad- 
ministration candidate,  made  it  impossible  for  those  dis- 
charged employees  to  find  other  situations,  and  it  also  made 
it  doubly  difficult  for  the  banks  to  collect  the  loans  made  by 
them  of  the  people's  money  deposited  in  the  New  York 
bank,  as  previously  stated. 

And  so  a  great  combination  was  formed  composed  of  the 
administration,  using  the  people's  money,  and  the  manu- 
facturing and  commercial  interests  of  the  country,  to  destroy 
the  freedom  of  the  ballot,  and  force  the  election  in  the  in- 
terests of  a  favored  class — and  it  succeeded. 

Shortly  after  this  election,  in  the  lobby  of  a  hotel  in  an 
Iowa  town,  the  writer  referred  to  this  wholesale  laying  off 
of  commercial  travelers  and  others,  for  the  purpose  ef 
forcing  the  presidential  election,  when  a  man  sitting  next  to 
him  said  that  he  did  not  believe  the  writer  could  give  the 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  17 

name  of  a  single  man  laid  off  in  that  way,  whereupon  a  com- 
mercial traveler  sitting  near  by  sprang  to  his  feet  and  with 
great  energy  declared,  "Here  is  one  right  here,  and  I'll 
make  you  a  list  of  a  thousand  of  them  if  you  want  them." 

The  Unkindest  Cut  of  All. 

Worst  of  all,  many  thousands  of  New  England  factory 
hands,  who  had  been  laid  off  with  promises  of  steady  work 
and  higher  pay  if  the  administration  candidate  were  elect- 
ed, found  that  they  had  been  completely  duped,  and  .by  the 
vilest  fraud  and  misrepresentation,  had  actually  been  in- 
duced to  work  for  their  own  ruin,  for  after  the  election  of 
the  administration  candidate  the  factories  remained  closed, 
and  these  poor  men  were  left  without  work,  for  the  manu- 
facturers found  it  more  profitable  to  hold  their  stocks  of 
manufactured  goods  for  the  higher  prices  which  they  knew 
they  could  get  with  the  tariff  rates  which  were  sure  to  be 
enacted  after  the  election  of  the  administration  candidate. 

With  the  employment  of  such  methods  as  this  will  any 
one  have  the  assurance  to  say  that  the  successful  candidates 
were  the  free  choice  of  the  people?  And  without  freedom 
of  the  ballot,  where  is  the  republic  of  which  we  have  been 
so  proud,  and  which  our  forefathers  established  at  the  price 
of  their  life's  blood?  It  has  passed  into  history,  and  in  its 
place  is  an  aristocracy  of  money  and  corruption,  absorbing 
the  life  of  the  nation  for  the  benefit  of  a  favored  few,  who 
employ  an  imperial  government  as  their  tool. 

What  the  Republic  Was  Sacrificed  For. 

And  for  what  has  this  system  of  corruption,  bribery  and 
repression  of  the  dearest  rights  of  the  people  been  brought 
about?  In  order  that  a  few  soulless  men  may  accumulate 


18  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

colossal  fortunes,  far  beyond  their  utmost  possible  require- 
ments; for  the  insane  and  insatiable  craze  for  gold,  more 
gold!  ever  more  gold!  has  made  them  the  servile  slaves  of 
the  degrading  vice  of  avarice,  a  vice  quite  as  revolting  as 
the  craze  for  strong  drink,  or  the  barroom  gambler's  love  of 
cards  and  loaded  dice. 

And  who  and  what  are  these  owners,  or  rather  robbers, 
of  such  vast  sums?  Each  of  them,  at  most,  is.  the  merest 
speck  on  the  ocean  of  humanity;  drifting  upon  the  tide  of 
life,  impelled  by  the  trade  winds  of  time  towards  the  shore 
of  the  "Great  Beyond"  from  which  none  shall  ever  return, 
and  to  which  they  cannot  carry  with  them  one  single  penny 
of  their  vast  hoards  of  ill-gotten  gain. 

Why  the  People  Are  Losing  Faith  in  the  United  States 

Authorities. 

Because  a  chief  executive  stated  that  an  officer  -of  the 
United  States  army,  charged  with  committing  a  most  brutal, 
cowardly  and  unprovoked  murder  while  on  duty  in  the 
Philippine  Islands  could  not  be  prosecuted  after  he  had  re- 
signed his  commission  in  the  army,  although  everybody 
knew  this  to  be  utterly  false. 

If  this  contention  were  true,  one  who  wished  to  commit 
murder  or  any  other  crime  with  impunity,  would  merely 
have  to  gain  admission  into  the  army  and  then,  after  com- 
mitting the  crime,  obtain  his  discharge  before  being  prose- 
cuted. Such  a  statement  is  an  insult  to  every  American 
citizen,  and  an  unparalelled  slander  of  the  army  of  which  we 
are  all  so  justly  proud,  for  we  know  that  it  is  not  a  shelter 
for  murderers  or  other  criminals,  and  we  cannot  be  made  to 
believe  that  the  army  cannot  be  purged  of  criminals  and 
miscreants  who  disgrace  our  national  uniform  and  tarnish 
the  glory  of  our  national  flag,  for  we  know  better. 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  19 

Because  a  chief  executive. publicly  insulted  and  humiliated 
a  commanding  general  of  our  army  while  pandering  to  the 
hatred  of  criminals  within  the  army,  whose  prosecution  had 
been  undertaken  by  this  commanding  general  who  was  be- 
loved and  revered  by  the  entire  nation  by  reason  of  his 
glorious  services  to  his  country  during  a  long  life  of  un- 
swerving devotion  to  duty,  during  which  his  reputation 
was  without  a  blemish. 

Because  all  the  recent  chief  executives  have  had  in  their 
cabinets,  and  otherwise  closely  associated  with  their  ad- 
ministrations, certain  men  notoriously  connected  with  the 
greatest  trusts  and  unlawful  combinations  in  the  country. 

Because  when  certain  notorious  criminals,  by  the  name  of 
Flemming  and  Merriam,  doing  business  under  the  firm 
name  and  style  of  "Fund  W"  had  been  carrying  on  an  ex- 
tensive system  of  swindling  through  the  United  States  mails, 
had  finally  been  convicted  and  sentenced  to  a  term  in  the 
penitentiary,  they  were  pardoned  by  a  chief  executive,  after 
they  had  served  but  a  few  months  of  their  well  deserved 
sentence. 

Because  an  attorney  general  of  the  United  States  publicly 
declared  that  after  certain  trusts  and  unlawful  combinations 
had  been  convicted  of  crimes,  that  there  was  no  way  in 
which  the  individuals  composing  those  unlawful  combina- 
tions could  be  brought  to  justice,  although  everybody  knew 
that  a  conviction  of  the  trust  was  a  conviction  of  the  indi- 
viduals composing  it  who  were  responsible  for  its  unlawful 
acts,  and  that,  upon  a  conviction  of  the  trust,  all  that  was 
necessary  to  mete  out  justice  was  to  pass  sentence  upon 
those  responsible  for  its  acts,  and  that  upon  motion  for 
sentence  against  these  parties,  it  would  be  the  duty  of  the 
court  to  pass  sentence  upon  them. 


20  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

Because  the  legal  existence  of  such  a  notorious  trust  and 
unlawful  combination  as  the  Standard  Oil  Company  was 
recognized  by  the  United  States  Department  of  Justice,  by 
proceedings  to  impose  a  penalty  upon  this  concern,  although 
again  and  again  it  had  been  decided  that  it  was  a  trust,  and 
its  very  existence  was  an  open  defiance  of  the  laws  of  the 
land,  and  although  every  tyro  of  the  law  knows  that  an 
organization  contrary  to  law  has  not,  and  cannot  have,  any 
legal  existence,  and  therefore,  that  having  no  legal  existence 
as  a  corporation,  it  can  neither  sue  nor  be  sued,  although 
the  individuals  composing  it,  who  are  guilty  of  the  unlawful 
practices,  may  be  brought  to  justice  for  their  unlawful  acts. 

And  because  in  this  same  proceeding,  instead  of  condemn- 
ing the  guilty  individuals  to  prison  sentences,  a  fine  was 
imposed,  which,  large  as  it  was,  everybody  knew  would  be 
collected  by  the  guilty  parties  from  their  victims,  the  people, 
in  whose  name  the  prosecution  was  conducted. 

It  was  estimated  that  by  raising  the  price  of  oil  at  that 
time,  in  anticipation  of  the  possibility  of  having  to  pay  a 
fine,  the  Standard  Oil  Company  had  collected  from  the 
people  about  $70,000,000.00,  which  was  considerably  more 
than  twice  the  amount  of  the  fine  specified  in  the  judgment 
against  the  defendant. 

Because  when  certain  other  notorious  swindlers,  who,  for 
years,  had  been  using  the  United  States  mails  for  criminal 
purposes,  and  who  did  business  under  the  name  of  a  so-called 
grain  and  commission  company,  had  finally  been  convicted 
before  a  United  States  court,  the  trial  judge,  after  stating 
that  he  would  impose  a  fine  heavy  enough  to  act  as  a  de- 
terrent for  the  future,  made  the  amount  of  the  fine  $2,500.00, 
which  was  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  amounts  stolen  from 
the  people  by  their  swindling  operations.  As  far  as  being  a 
deterrent,  it  would  have  been  about  as  effective  to  require 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  21 

the  convict  to  present  the  court  with  a  cigar  as  a  condition 
for  being  released.  Yet  there  was  no  rebuke  forthcoming 
from  Washington  for  making  a  farce  of  a  prosecution 
that  had  cost  a  large  sum  of  the  people's  money, 
and  the  judge  was  neither  removed  from  office  nor  suspend- 
ed from  duty,  nor  was  any  other  step  taken  by  the  author- 
ities at  Washington  to  put  a  stop  to  such  trifling  with  jus- 
tice. 

Because  when  another  criminal  had  been  openly  defying 
the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  after  a  prosecution  cost- 
ing large  sums  of  the  people's  money  he  was  finally  convicted, 
instead  of  being  sentenced  to  a  term  in  the  penitentiary  com- 
mensurate with  his  crime  the  sentence  of  the  United  States 
court  was  that  he  be  placed  for  six  hours  under  the  custody 
of  the  United  States  marshal,  who  turned  him  over  to  his 
attorneys,  who  presumably  told  him  to  go  take  a  drink  or  go 
home,  thus  prostituting  the  justice  to  which  the  people  were 
entitled  for  their  protection.  Yet  the  judge  guilty  of  such 
disgraceful  conduct  was  not  removed  from  office  by  execu- 
tive authority,  nor  in  any  way  punished  for  this  scandalous 
betrayal  of  the  trust  reposed  in  him. 

The  people  are  pretty  well  disgusted  with  this  continual 
playing  to  the  galleries,  and  their  patience  is  about  exhaust- 
ed with  the  farce-comedy  of  prosecutions  which  bring  no 
results  excepting  the  expenditure  of  large  sums  of  the 
people's  money,  and  the  feeling  is  rapidly  growing  that  no 
other  result  is  intended. 

Such  things  as  this  are  what  caused  a  president  of  the 
state  bar  association  of  Iowa  to  say  to  the  association  in  con- 
vention assembled,  that  the  greatest  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
the  administration  of  justice  was  the  venality  of  the  courts, 
and  especially  of  the  Federal  courts. 


22  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

N. 

Taxes  Are  Needless  Robbery. 

Kobbery  is  the  unlawful  taking  by  superior  force  of  what 
belongs  to  another,  or  the  unjustifiable  taking  by  the  misap- 
plication of  the  law,  of  what  belongs  to  another. 

While  the  collection  of  taxes  can  not  be  brought  strictly 
cr  technically  under  the  above  headings,  a  moment 's  analysis 
of  the  methods  employed  in  the  levying  and  collection  of 
taxes  will  show  that  it  may  truly  be  brought  under  both  of 
these  headings,  when  the  essential  principles  involved  are 
made  the  standard,  for  several  of  the  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  our  national  constitution  are  violated  under  the 
present  methods;  such  as  the  axiom  that  private  property 
shall  not  be  taken  without  due  compensation  therefor;  that 
taxes  shall  be  levied  only  for  the  reasonable  requirements 
of  government;  that  there  shall  be  no  taxation  without 
representation,  etc. 

Theoretically  the  public  benefits  derived  from  the  conduct 
of  the  government,  and  the  protection  afforded  to  person 
and  property,  are  sufficient  compensation  for  the  levying  of 
the  taxes :  Theoretically,  also,  the  taxes  levied  are  necessary 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  government ;  and  further,  all  tax- 
payers are  theoretically  represented  in  the  bodies  which  levy 
the  taxes,  but  unfortunately,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  practically 
no  one  of  these  essential  requirements  is  in  reality  complied 
with  under  existing  methods,  for  if  the  various  federal,  state, 
county  and  municipal  governments  made  due  use  of  the 
sources  of  revenue  which  properly  belong  to  them  no  taxes 
whatever  would  be  necessary.  This  will  be  shown  clearly 
enough  under  the  heading  "Franchises  are  usually  thefts," 
and  it  will  then  be  seen  that  the  taxes  are  not  necessary  for 
the  maintenance  of  any  one  of  these  governments. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  23 

As  to  the  protection  afforded  to  person  and  property  in 
return  for  the  taxes  paid,  excepting  to  the  limited  extent 
to  which  this  protection  is  given  through  the  police  patrols, 
it  is  not  to  be  found,  for  the  protection  derived  from  the 
courts,  without  which  the  work  of  the  police  patrols  would 
be  of  but  little  effect,  can  be  had  by  those  only  who  have 
the  means  to  pay  for  it,  in  each  particular  case.  This 
statement  does  not  involve  any  charge  of  venality  on  the 
part  of  the  judiciary,  but  refers  to  the  well  known  fact  that 
the  expense  involved  in  attempts  to  obtain  justice  through 
the  courts  is  such  as  to  deter  any  but  persons  of  means  from 
availing  themselves  of  these  legal  proceedings,  hence  it  may 
be  truly  said  that  the  needed  protection  in  return  for  the 
taxes  paid,  however  much  of  it  there  may  be  in  theory,  is 
actually  lacking  in  fact  and  in  practice. 

As  to  the  representation  of  those  who  pay  taxes,  we  all 
know  perfectly  well  that  a  very  large  number  of  tax  payers 
are  not  represented  in  any  way  whatever,  for  those  only  are 
represented  who  are  perfectly  in  accord  with  those  who  are 
elected  to  office,  and  as  the  choice  of  candidates  is  always  so 
restricted  that  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  there  is  in 
reality  no  choice  at  all,  it  logically  follows  that  the  great 
majority  of  the  taxpayers  are  not  truly  represented  in  any 
way  in  those  bodies  who  control  the  tax  levies.  Under  our 
system  this  is  so  obvious  that  no  argument  is  needed  on  the 
subject. 

It  therefore  follows  that  taxes  are  collected  without  any 
return  being  made  for  them ;  without  necessity  for  the  main- 
tenance of  government,  and  without  representation,  and  as 
the  existence  of  these  absent  conditions  is  the  only  justifi- 
cation for  the  collection  of  taxes  under  existing  methods, 
their  absence  shows  that  this  collection  is  strictly  within  the 
definition  of  robbery. 


24  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

Franchises  Are  Usually  Thefts,. 

Theft  may  be  defined  to  be  the  unlawful  taking  of  the 
property  of  another. 

It  is  generally  recognized  in  this  country  that  property 
can  not  be  taken  for  public  use  without  compensation  to 
the  persons  from  whom  it  was  taken. 

From  the  foregoing  proposition  it  logically  follows,  and 
with  at  least  equal  force,  that  public  property  can  not  be 
lawfully  taken  for  private  use  without  compensation.  Now 
entirely  independently  and  apart  from  the  bribery  and  cor- 
ruption so  frequently  resorted  to  in  obtaining  franchises 
permitting  the  use  of  property  owned  by  the  community  at 
large,  and  therefore  public  property,  such  as  public  high- 
ways in  city  and  country,  the  right  to  exercise  the  power  of 
eminent  domain,  a  right  inherent  in  the  government  alone, 
and  all  the  others  usually  granted  to  corporations,  but  more 
especially  to  transportation  companies,  it  is  well  known  that 
in  a  very  large  number  of  cases  that  not  only  is  no  payment 
of  any  kind  or  amount  made  by  the  company  receiving  the 
franchise,  but  in  a  number  of  cases  in  addition  to  the  fran- 
chise itself,  often  of  very  great  value,  land  grants  of  lands 
worth  vast  amounts,  have  been  given  outright  to  corpor- 
ations. 

There  are  persons  who  will  say  that  it  is  the  development 
of  the  property  under  the  franchise  that  has  made  it  so 
valuable,  and  that  the  franchise,  before  the  development, 
was  of  little  or  no  value.  Precisely  so.  The  franchise  made 
it  possible  to  so  develop  the  property  as  to  make  it  of  enorm- 
ous value,  and  the  credit  which  resulted  from  the  franchise 
was  the  most  important  element  in  the  development  of  the 
property. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  25 

Now,  let  me  ask,  why  was  this  franchise  granted  without 
compensation  to  a  private  corporation,  instead  of  being  re- 
tained by  the  state  and  developed  by  the  state,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  community  to  which  it  belonged,  for  it  will  scarce- 
ly be  denied  that  the  credit  appertaining  to  the  franchise, 
and  which  made  its  exploitation  possible,  would  have  been 
still  more  available  if  the  franchise  and  the  land  grants,  or 
whatever  other  bonuses  or  rights  went  with  it,  had  been  re- 
tained by  the  state  or  municipality  to  which  it  belonged. 

Without  going  into  the  details  of  bribery  and  corruption, 
which  too  often  were  employed  to  secure  these  valuable  fran- 
chises, it  is  clearly  a  case  of  wrongful  taking  from  the  pub- 
lic or  community  to  which  it  belonged,  of  valuable  property, 
and  this  is  precisely  the  definition  of  theft,  which  proves  the 
proposition  that  franchises  are  usually  thefts. 

If  all  the  rights,  privileges,  credits  and  property  granted 
away  without  compensation  to  private  corporations,  had 
been  retained  by  the  communities  to  which  they  belonged, 
taxes  would  have  been  entirely  unnecessary  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  government,  therefore  the  pretext  that  taxes 
are  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  government  falls  to 
the  ground. 


26  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 


CHAPTER   II. 
NATIONAL  WASTES. 

Avoidable  Wastes  Exceed  $6,000,000,000.00  Annually  in  the 
United  States. 

The  most  valuable  of  all  fertilizers  is  night  soil  or  human 
manure,  yet,  in  practically  all  the  cities  and  towns  in  the 
country  this  is  allowed  to  go  to  waste,  and  still  worse,  in 
many  cases,  it  is  turned  into  streams  and  rivers  to  pollute 
the  waters  and  spread  disease,  or  it  is  allowed  to  soak  into 
the  ground  near  dwelling  houses  and  business  buildings 
where  it  becomes  a  greater  menace  to  health  than  if  allowed 
to  run  into  the  streams. 

On  most  farms  in  this  country  it  also  goes  entirely  to 
waste. 

In  the  most  densely  inhabited  countries  of  Europe  and 
Asia  every  particle  of  this  is  saved  and  placed  upon  the  land 
where  it  will  do  the  most  good  in  furnishing  nutrition  to 
the  field  and  garden  crops  and  the  economical  use  of  this 
most  valuable  fertilizer  is  one  great  secret  of  the  capacity 
of  such  countries  as  China,  Belgium,  France  and  Holland 
to  support  the  densest  populations  in  the  world. 

A  very  conservative  estimate  of  the  loss  from  this  source 
alone  shows  it  to  exceed  $2,000,000,000.00  every  year. 

On  a  great  many  farms  the  liquid  manure,  the  most  valua- 
ble part,  goes  entirely  to  waste,  and  neglect  of  the  remainder, 
allowing  it  to  go  to  decay  until  it  is  almost  worthless;  the 
entire  loss  of  the  straw  on  farms  by  burning  it,  allowing  it 
to  decay  in  heaps,  or  by  hauling  it  away  to  be  sold  off  the 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  27 

place ;  the  entire  loss  of  hen  manure  which  is  simply  guano 
and  second  only  to  night  soil ;  the  loss  of  the  ashes,  although 
they  are  very  rich  in  plant  food  difficult  to  obtain  from  other 
sources;  the  failure  to  use  the  sawdust,  soapsuds  and  house 
slops,  all  exceedingly  rich  in  plant  food;  the  general  neglect 
to  crop  barnyards,  although  they  may  contain  fully  half  the 
manure  on  the  farm ;  taking  all  these  losses  together  a  most 
conservative  estimate  would  place  this  inexcusable,  avoid- 
able waste  at  upwards  of  $6,000,000,000.00  a  year  in  the 
United  States.  And  it  would  be  much  more  profitable  each 
year  to  entirely  destroy  or  cast  into  the  depths  of  the  sea 
all  the  gold  and  silver  that  can  be  got  possession  of  in  the 
country  than  to  continue  this  enormous,  reckless  waste  of 
the  greatest  sources  of  wealth  that  we  have. 

When  we  further  consider  that  most  farms  in  the  so-called 
humid  regions  are  entirely  without  irrigation,  excepting  truck 
gardens,  which  are  usually  irrigated  by  hand  in  the  most  ex- 
pensive and  laborious  manner,  although  crops  of  all  kinds 
in  all  climates  and  conditions  of  humidity  may  be  increased 
from  two  to  five-fold  by  irrigation,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the 
average  farm  in  the  United  States  yields  considerably  less 
than  one-fourth  of  what  might  be  produced  from  less  land 
with  less  labor  by  the  employment  of  proper  economic 
methods. 

Some  years  ago  an  expert,  after  investigating  the  farming 
methods  employed  on  farms  in  Minnesota,  estimated  that  the 
loss  from  waste  or  neglect  of  barnyard  manure  alone  exceed- 
ed the  value  of  the  entire  yield  of  the  land  in  the  state.  And 
it  now  seems  safe  to  say  that  the  waste  in  the  United  States 
considerably  exceeds  the  actual  earnings  of  the  entire  popu- 
lation ;  that  is,  that  if  proper  economic  methods  were  follow- 
ed the  earnings  of  the  population  would  be  more  than 
doubled,  and  that  the  country  could  better  afford  to  throw 


28  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

away  each  year  all  that  is  to  be  found  in  the  way  of  money 
or  jewelry  of  every  kind  in  the  country  than  to  hoard  the 
money  and  each  year  waste  more  than  its  value.  We  are 
somewhat  in  the  condition  of  a  drunkard  who  keeps  putting 
one  dollar  bills  into  one  pocket  while  at  the  same  time 
throwing  away  two-dollar  bills  from  the  other  pocket.  The 
final  result  to  his  financial  condition  could  be  foretold  with- 
out the  gift  of  prophesy. 

Dairy  Wastes. 

The  writer  recently  read  in  an  engineering  magazine  an 
account  of  an  ingenious  method  of  disposing  of  dairy  wastes 
by  their  destruction  and  an  analysis  of  these  so-called  wastes 
showed  that  they  consisted  largely  of  oxygen,  nitrogen,  and 
nitrogen  as  free  ammonia,  and  of  casein,  which  is  simply 
cheese.  So  that  the  system  consisted  of  a  method  by  which 
quantities  of  the  most  valuable  of  plant  foods  were  being 
regularly  destroyed  to  get  rid  of  them  and  also  a  quantity. 
of  cheese. 

The  creameries  in  which  this  inexcusable  waste  is  being 
regularly  carried  on  are  controlled  by  business  men  who 
produce  nothing  themselves  and  it  is  probably  found  cheaper 
to  destroy  these  valuable  fertilizers  than  to  return  them  to 
the  farmers  who  ship  the  milk  and  cream,  therefore  they  are 
destroyed  and  become  a  literal  waste,  whereas,  if  the  farmers 
who  ship  to  these  creameries  owned  their  own  creameries 
they  could  easily  make  available  these  plant  foods  which 
would  increase  the  yield  of  their  fields  and  gardens.  This  is 
an  argument  in  favor  of  the  ownership  by  the  farmers  of  the 
plants  in  which  their  produce  is  worked  up  for  market. 

Were  it  not  for  the  enormous  resources  at  our  disposal 
we  would  long  ago  have  become  hopelessly  bankrupt  or 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  29 

have  been  compelled  to  adopt  some  reasonable  economic 
methods  to  stop  the  unparalelled  waste  that  has  continued 
for  centuries. 

Some  Neglected  Resources. 

Many  of  our  most  valuable  resources  are  not  even  gen- 
erally known  to  exist.  Among  them  the  following  are  a  few 
that  are  most  entirely  neglected.  In  every  state  in  the  union 
there  is  a  native  silk  worm,  and  so  far  as  the  writer  knows 
no  attempt  has  been  made  to  develop  them. 

Millions  of  sugar  maple  trees,  capable  of  producing  great 
quantities  of  the  purest  sugar  and  syrup  are  never  tapped. 

Large  areas  of  swampy  lands  suitable  for  raising  wild  rice, 
cranberries  and  other  valuable  crops  are  not  used  until 
drained  when  it  is  often  doubtful  whether  the  crops  raised 
are  worth  as  much  as  those  that  could  have  been  raised  with- 
out drainage. 

Valuable  pearl  and  pearl  shell  fisheries,  both  on  th£  sea 
coast  and  in  inland  waters  are  being  destroyed  by  a  dis- 
regard of  any  system  of  preservation,  and  it  does  not  seem 
to  be  known  to  our  people  that  pearls  can  be  as  easily 
raised,  where  conditions  are  favorable,  as  cabbages. 

Millions  of  willow  trees  are  destroyed  instead  of  using 
them  for  basket-making  and  other  kindred  industries. 

Great  quantities  of  grasses  and  rushes  suitable  for  mats 
and  other  similar  things  are  allowed  to  go  to  waste  unused, 
although  this  industry  has  received  some  attention  within 
the  past  few  years. 

Tea,  similar  to  that  cultivated  in  Ceylon  and  China,  grows 
wild  in  a  number  of  states  of  the  Union  but  receives  no  at- 
tention. 

Wild  hemp,  suitable  for  rope-making,  annually  goes  to 
waste. 


30  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

A  number  of  the  northern  states  are  capable  of  growing 
a  fine  quality  of  cotton  but,  with  the  exception  of  one  or 
two  of  these  states,  none  is  grown  there. 

Valuable  gums,  herbs  and  barks  are  entirely  neglected  in 
most  parts  of  the  Union. 

Almost  unlimited  deposits  of  sand  suitable  for  making  the 
finest  quality  of  glass  remains  unused. 

Great  deposits  of  the  finest  pipe  and  pottery  clay  lie  un- 
developed. 

The  mud  in  some  of  our  city  streets  is  worth  almost  its 
weight  in  silver  when  turned  into  pottery. 

Hazel  bushes,  if  preserved  and  attended  to,  would  yield 
more  valuable  returns  than  almost  any  crop  raised  on  the 
ground  from  which  they  have  been  cleared  away. 

The  timber  cleared  away  to  make  room  for  farms,  if  cared 
for  under  forestry  methods,  would  in  many  cases  yield  much 
better  returns  than  the  crops  raised  on  the  land  from  which 
it  has  been  cleared. 

In  parts  of  the  south  the  weeds  and  grasses  hoed  out  to 
allow  cotton  and  corn  to  grow  have  a  greater  value  than 
the  cotton  crop  raised  in  their  place. 

Quantities  of  stumps  burned  or  dynamited  to  get  rid  of 
them  are  capable  of  producing  valuable  assets  in  the  way 
of  turpentine. 

And  now  a  chemical  analysis  has  shown  that  sage  brush, 
heretofore  considered  worthless  and  a  positive  nuisance,  is 
valuable  for  the  production  of  chemicals  in  common  use. 

In  fact  it  may  be  truly  said  that  we  have  not  as  yet  more 
than  begun  to  learn  our  national  resources  and  know  but 
very  little  about  them,  and  many  a  time,  in  their  haste  to 
find  gold  or  other  minerals,  men  walk  right  over  resources 
of  far  greater  value  of  which  they  do  not  know  enough  to 
take  any  advantage. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  31 

MAKE  SAGE  BRUSH  VALUABLE. 
Chemist's  Discovery  May  Change  Face  of  the  Desert. 

Carson,  Nev. — "Hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  are  involv- 
ed in  a  discovery  that  may  turn  the  sage  brush  of  the 
Western  plains  into  a  new  national  resource  through  the 
production  of  distillate,  yielding  a  net  profit  on  the  sage 
brush  of  $15  a  cord. 

Chicago  chemists  have  informed  the  state  publicity  and 
industrial  commission  of  Nevada  of  the  discovery.  Their  re- 
ports and  especially  one  received  today  from  Prof.  Sylvester 
Sparling,  give  such  startling  figures  that  it  is  predicted 
sage  brush  land  will  jump  in  value  to  $100  an  acre. 

There  are  millions  of  acres  in  the  West  on  which  the  sage 
brush  has  been  regarded  as  a  nuisance. 

Should  the  Chicago  process  for  extracting  valuable  dis- 
tillate turn  out  as  expected,  these  will  be  cleared  at  great 
profit,  ready  for  the  hand  of  the  farmer. 

Prof.  Sparling's  report  shows  that  tar,  wood  alcohol  and 
acetic  acid  are  the  valuable  constituents  of  the  sage  brush 
distillate.  Charcoal  is  also  produced  after  the  distilling 
process  is  completed,  the  charcoal  being  a  valuable  by- 
product. 

Prof.  Sparling's  report  shows  that  220  gallons  of  the  dis- 
tillate was  extracted  from  4,000  pounds  of  sage  brush,  which 
further  yielded  350  pounds  of  charcoal.  "—Los  Angeles  Ex- 
aminer. 

Enormous  Waste  From  Fires— The  Remedy. 

The  following  editorial  from  the  St.  Paul  Pioneer  Press 
of  Mar.  3rd,  1907  needs  no  comment  and  shows  an  utter 
want  of  any  proper  system  in  the  country  to  prevent  this 


32  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

great  destruction  which  is  not  only  needless  but  utterly  in- 
excusable. 

Fire  Losses  and  Fireproof  Buildings. 

' '  The  statement  that  the  losses  from  fire  last  year  amounted 
to  $500,000,000  while  the  total  put  into  new  buildings  was 
only  $605,000,000  is  sufficiently  startling  to  attract  attenti<jn. 
If  that  sort  of  thing  were  the  rule  the  increase  in  new  build- 
ings would  be  so  slow  that  within  a  "very  short  time  there 
would  not  be  enough  to  shelter  comfortably  our  population 
or  to  accommodate  the  natural  increase  in  business.  For 
the  rate  of  increase  in  building  would  be  far  below 
the  rate  of  increase  in  population.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  1906  fire  losses  were  swelled  by  the  phenomenal 
conflagration  at  San  Francisco.  So  far  as  shelter  and  busi- 
ness accomodation  are  concerned  there  is  no  prospect  of  any 
serious  shortage ;  for,  as  a  rule,  the  fire  losses  do  not  run 
much  above  $150,000,000  or  $175,000,000  a  year.  In  1904, 
however,  they  were  over  $230,000,000  as  the  result  of  the 
Baltimore  and  other  conflagrations. 

But  that  a  loss  of  $500,000,000  in  a  single  year  was  pos- 
sible and  that  an  enormous  annual  loss  of  over  $150,000,000 
is  the  normal  expectation  are  facts  deserving  of  far  more 
consideration  than  are  usually  given  them.  For  they  arise 
from  the  same  cause,  the  almost  universal  construction  of 
buildings  that  so  far  from  being  fire  resisting  are  so  much 
fuel  for  the  flames  when  once  a  blaze  gets  a  good  start.  Al- 
most all  the  annual  loss  is  avoidable.  Had  San  Francisco 
been  built  of  reinforced  concrete,  and  had  every  possible 
safeguard  against  fire  been  introduced,  the  fires  from  which 
the  far  sweeping  conflagration  sprang  either  would  not 
have  been  kindled  or  would  have  burned  themselves  out. 
What  gives  a  general  conflagration  its  devastating  power 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  33 

is  the  concentrated  heat  of  a  mass  of  burning  buildings 
which  ignites  inflammable  material  even  at  a  considerable 
distance,  and  even  crumbles  stone  exteriors.  Destroy  the 
possibility  of  a  concentrated  volume  of  flame  and  the  danger 
of  a  general  conflagration  would  be  small.  This  is  the  virtue, 
from  the  public  standpoint,  ~of  fireproof  construction.  It 
may  not  in  all  cases  be  able  to  resist  the  assault  of  a  general 
conflagration,  but  it  does  not  assist  in  starting  one  nor  in- 
crease the  volume  of  heat.  It  confines  a  fire  within  its  own 
walls;  it  acts  as  a  barrier  to  ordinary  fire  starting  outside. 
If  the  fireproof  building  were  the  rule  instead  of  the  rare 
exception  there  would  be  no  danger  of  general  conflagra- 
tions. 

But  as  a  matter  of  fact  less  than  1  per  cent  of  our  build- 
ings are  fireproof.  Even  in  these  days  of  enlightenment, 
of  concrete  and  mill  construction,  of  fireproof  material  for 
walls,  floors  and  roofs,  and  of  high  lumber  prices  less  than  3 
per  cent  of  the  new  buildings  are  fireproof.  In  dwellings 
there  is  practically  no  attempt  at  fireproofing.  It  is  only 
the  high-grade  buildings,  backed  by  ample  capital,  that 
resort  to  it.  This  is  largely  the  result  of  the  inertia 
of  custom.  For  even  in  St.  Paul,  which  is  by  no  means  un- 
favorably situated  for  an  ample  lumber  supply  and  is  not 
particularly  well  situated  in  respect  to  high-grade  cements, 
the  difference  of  cost  between  an  ordinary  business  building 
of  brick  and  lumber  and  a  thoroughly  fireproof  building 
of  reinforced  concrete  is  a  good  deal  less  than  10  per  cent. 
Even  in  the  case  of  dwellings  the  difference  is  only  a  very 
small  percentage  and  is  constantly  dwindling.  Probably 
25  per  cent  of  those  that  build  could  afford  the  increased 
per  centage  and  would  assume  the  slight  additional  burden 
if  it  were  not  for  the  force  of  custom  and  the  common  un- 
willingness to  depart  from  the  beaten  path  of  centuries. 


34  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

For  it  is  obvious  that  the  concrete  dwellings,  besides  insur- 
ing comparative  immunity  from  fire — which  to  many  occa- 
sions constant  dread — would  possess  many  advantages.  It 
would  be  less  noisy,  less  costly  to  heat  in  winter,  easier  to 
keep  cool  in  summer,  less  likely  to  be  wrecked  by  wind- 
storms and  less  costly  to  keep  in  repair.  It  is  not  improbable 
that  the  saving  in  insurance,  in  fuel  and  in  general  up-keep 
would  go  far  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  cost  of  construction 
if  not  to  wipe  it  out  entirely. 

The  time  has  not  yet  come  when  any  such  measure  can  be 
seriously  advocated,  but  it  is  not  too  much  to  expect  that 
before  many  years  the  construction  of  other  than  fireproof 
buildings  will  be  prohibited.  It  could  be  done  now  without 
any  very  general  hardship.  It  would  be  a  proper  exercise  of 
municipal  authority.  For  in  addition  to  the  vast  sum  burned 
up  every  year  the  country  spends  probably  as  much  again  in 
the  support  of  the  splendidly  equipped  and  numerously 
manned  fire  departments  which  necessity  has  forced  upon  us. 
Were  every  building  to  be  fireproof  the  necessity  of  such 
large  fire  departments  would  be  gone.  Much  smaller  de- 
partments would  be  the  rule  and  the  losses  would  even  then 
be  but  a  fraction  of  what  they  are  now.  Were  every  house, 
or  even  every  other  house,  fireproof,  insurance  rates  would 
be  but  a  fraction  of  what  they  now  are.  In  other  words, 
only  by  common  action  can  the  amounts  needed  for  fire 
fighting  and  for  insurance  be  cut  down,  and  such  common 
action  can  only  be  secured  by  compulsion  of  the  law. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  35 

FIRE  LOSS  IS  NEARLY  $1,500,000  A  DAY. 

Federal  Statistics  Show  Tremendous  Annual  Destruction  of 
Life  and  Wealth. 

CAN  EASILY  BE  PREVENTED. 

Cost  of  Fireproof  Building  Material  Not  Much  Greater  Than 

Inflammable. 

Washington,  Feb.  7,  1910.— "Fire,  stolen  from  heaven  by 
Prometheus,  according  to  ancient  Greek  mythology,  and  as  a 
blessing  brought  by  him  to  earth  in  a  hollow  reed  after  Zeus 
had  deprived  mankind  of  it,  leavies  upon  Americans  each 
year  an  enormous  tax  calculated  by  United  States  govern- 
ment officials  at  almost  a  million  and  a  half  dollars  a  day 
and  1,449  lives  a  year.  As  a  result  of  an  investigation  just 
concluded  by  officials  of  the  United  States  geological  survey, 
ii:  has  been  ascertained  that  cheaper  fireproof  materials  can 
be  used  to  advantage  in  construction,  that  three  to  six  times 
the  necessary  amount  of  material  is  habitually  used  in  struc- 
tural work  in  the  United  States,  that  the  building  codes  are 
laxly  enforced,  that  the  fire  loss  in  the  United  States  is 
eight  times  as  much  per  capita  as  in  any  country  in  Europe 
and  that  the  great  fire  waste  in  the  United  States  is  due 
principally  to  the  predominance  of  frame  buildings  and  to 
defective  construction  and  equipment. 

Needs  No  Insurance. 

Not  one  person  in  a  thousand  knows  that  the  United 
States  government  owns  buildings  that  cost  more  than  $300,- 
000,000  and  is  spending  $20,000,000  a  year  for  new  buildings. 
It  will  be  a  surprise  to  every  one,  too,  to  learn  that  not  one 
cent  of  insurance  against  loss  by  fire  is  carried  on  these 
valuable  buildings.  Insurance  at  the  ordinary  rate  would 


36  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

cost  more  than  half  a  million  dollars  a  year,  and  the  govern- 
ment avoids  this  great  tax  by  constructing  buildings  that 
are  securely  fireproof. 

To  attain  this  degree  of  security  from  fire  for  government 
buildings  the  government  has  gone  to  considerable  expense 
and  the  results  obtained  fully  repay  the  outlay.  From  these 
tests  to  determine  the  strength  and  fire  resistance  of  build- 
ing materials  it  has  been  determined  that  American  builders 
can  with  safety  use  cheaper  fireproof  materials  than  they 
do.  It  has  been  learned  that  the  difference  in  cost  between 
fireproof  and  inflammable  buildings  is  less  than  generally 
supposed,  and  the  officials  predict  that  this  difference  will 
soon  become  so  small  that  it  will  cease  to  encourage  the  con- 
struction of  flimsy  buildings. 

Waste  Structural  Material. 

It  has  been  found  that  three  to  six  times  the  necessary 
amount  of  material  is  habitually  used  by  American  builders 
in  structural  work.  The  necessity  also  is  shown  for  better 
building  codes  in  cities  and  especially  of  a  better  enforce- 
ment of  the  codes  already  enacted  if  the  present  enormous 
fire  losses  are  to  be  diminished. 

After  a  careful  investigation  it  has  been  determined  that 
the  total  cost  of  fires  in  the  United  States  in  1907,  exclud- 
ing that  of  forest  fires  and  the  marine  losses  (in  themselves 
extensive)  but  including  excess  cost  of  fire  protection  due  to 
bad  construction  and  excess  premiums  over  insurance  paid 
amounted  to  the  enormous  sum  of  over  $456,485,000,  a  tax 
on  the  American  people  exceeding  the  total  value  of  all  the 
gold,  silver,  copper  and  petroleum  produced  in  the  United 
States  in  that  year.  The  cost  of  building  construction  in 
1907  in  forty-nine  leading  cities  of  the  United  States  report- 


DOWNFALL    OP   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  37 

ing  a  total  population  of  less  than  18,000,000  amounted  to 
$661,076,286,  and  the  cost  of  building  construction  for  the 
entire  country  is  conservatively  estimated  at  $1,000,000,000. 

Half  Yearly  Increase  Wiped.  Out. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  nearly  one  half  of  the  value  of 
all  the  new  buildings  constructed  within  one  year  is  destroy- 
ed by  fire. 

The  annual  fire  cost  is  greater  than  the  value  of  the  real 
property  and  improvements  in  either  Maine,  West  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  North  Dakota,  South  Dakota,  Alabama, 
Louisiana,  or  Montana.  In  addition  to  this  waste  of  wealth 
and  natural  resources,  1,449  persons  were  killed  and  5,652 
were  injured  in  fires  in  the  United  States  in  1907. 

The  per  capita  loss  in  the  cities  of  the  six  leading  Euro- 
pean countries  amounted  to  but  33  cents.  Comparisons  of 
the  total  cost  of  fires,  which  includes  the  items  already  stat- 
ed, show  that  if  buildings  in  the  United  States  were  as  near- 
ly fireproof  as  those  in  Europe  the  annual  fire  cost  would 
be  $90,000,000  instead  of  $456,000,000." 

These  figures  do  not  include  the  loss  from  forest  fires, 
which  are  almost  beyond  computation  as  a  result  of  criminal 
carelessness  and  utter  indifference  on  the  part  of  those  who 
caused  them  until  they  were  in  a  great  measure  checked 
by  the  splendid  system  of  forestry  introduced  under  the  di- 
rection of  Mr.  Gifford  Pinchot. 

This  is  one  of  the  great  national  wastes  which  might  be 
entirely  prevented  by  having  competent  officials  in  the  pub- 
lic service  but,  unhappily,  excepting  to  the  limited  extent 
to  which  the  civil  service  rules  are  applied  in  certain 
branches  of  the  public  service,  such  as  the  army,  navy,  the 
U.  S.  Agricultural  Department,  the  United  States  Geological 


38  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

Survey  and  some  others,  fitness  for  the  duties  required  of 
public  officials  is  about  the  last  thing  required  or  apparently 
thought  of.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  state  that  no  one 
knows  what  he  has  not  learned  and  that  therefore  to  appoint 
persons  to  the  public  service  who  are  not  fitted  by  proper 
training  for  the  positions  that  they  are  to  fill  is  simply  to  in- 
vite failure  and  this  results  in  a  leak  in  our  national,  state 
and  municipal  expenditures  which  probably  far  exceeds  the 
entire  amount  required  to  conduct  the  public  business  and 
it  is  pretty  safe  to  say  that  with  competent  public  servants 
the  revenues  of  the  various  branches  and  subdivisions  of  the 
government,  excepting  in  those  cases  where  experts  in  their 
lines  are  employed,  could  be  reduced  by  more  than  one 
half,  and  yet  yield  far  greater  results  for  the  public  good 
than  under  the  present  system,  or  rather  entire  want  of 
system. 

Fireproof  Buildings  Cost  Less  Than  Inflammable  Ones. 

Within  the  personal  knowledge  of  the  writer,  and  of 
anyone  who  has  any  knowledge  of  the  facts,  there  are  many 
conditions  under  which  fireproof  buildings,  even  for  the 
first  cost,  are  less  expensive  than  buildings  of  wood  or 
other  material  that  may  be  injured  or  destroyed  by  fire; 
and  whatever  the  first  cost  may  be,  it  can  scarcely  ever  be 
so  high  as  not  to  make  the  fireproof  building  much  less 
expensive  within  the  first  ten  years,  by  the  saving  in  insur- 
ance and  repairs. 

Railway   Accidents   More   Destructive   Than   An  Invading 
Army.    The  Remedy. 

New  York's  Street  Car  Butcheries. 

"Forty -four  persons  were  killed  by  street  cars  in  this  city 
last  month  (Jan.,  1908),  and  2.500  were  injured,  of  whom 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  39 

1,444  were  pasesngers.  Assume  that  the  totals  were  aver- 
age, and  they  imply  for  the  year  a  death  list  of  528  per- 
sons, and  a  casualty  list  among  passengers  of  17,328.  In 
1905  the  steam  railroads  of  the  country  killed  537  passen- 
gers and  injured  10,457.  It  appears,  then,  that  the  street 
railroads  of  this  city  are  killing  as  many  passengers  as 
the  railroads  of  the  entire  country,  and  are  injuring  nearly 
twice  as  many. 

Make  the  comparison  with  the  losses  of  war.  This  gov- 
ernment freed  Cuba,  won  the  Philippines  and  Porto  Rico 
and  fought  the  entire  war  with  Spain  with  a  loss  on  the 
field  of  1,743  persons  killed  and  wounded.  The  killed  and 
injured  on  the  streets  of  New  York  last  month  made  a  total 
casualty  list  757  more  than  the  casualties  of  the  Spanish 
war.  Every  twenty  minutes  some  one  was  struck  down  by 
a  street  car. 

It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  most  of  these  accidents  are 
practically  unavoidable  in  the  present  state  of  transpor- 
tation. The  system  that  obviated  them  would  save  to  the 
railroads  the  income  on  a  capitalization  of  at  least  fifty 
millions." — New  York  Mail. 

As  a  revivalist  once  remarked  to  his  audience,  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  can  have  anything  that  they  want. 
But  national,  state  and  municipal  affairs  will  not  run  them- 
selves any  more  than  any  other  business  will,  and  the  great 
trouble  with  us  has  been  that  it  never  seems  to  occur  to 
most  of  us  that  to  succeed,  our  public  business  must  be 
run  on  business  principles. 

To  stop  the  great  loss  of  life  and  the  many  injuries  an- 
nually caused  by  street  car  and  railroad  accidents,  all  that 
is  necessary  is  to  compel  those  responsible  for  them  to  take 
the  necessary  precautions  to  prevent  them.  To  do  this  it 
must  be  remembered  that  those  primarily  responsible  for 


40  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

these  deaths  and  injuries  are  not  switchmen,  breakmen, 
locomotive  engineers,  conductors  and  station  agents,  for  all 
of  these  are  merely  the  agents  of  the  responsible  parties, 
who  are  the  directors,  presidents,  traffic  managers;  in  a 
word,  the  chief  officials  of  the  railways. 

Let  us  suppose  for  a  moment  that  in  case  of  death  or 
injury  from  a  railway  accident,  the  president,  directors  and 
all  general  officers  of  a  railway  were  certain  to  be  arrested 
and  charged  with  murder  or  manslaughter,  as  the  case 
might  be,  and  held  for  punishment,  unless  they  could  show, 
by  a  fair  preponderance  of  evidence,  that  the  death  or 
injury  was  caused  by  means  quite  beyond  their  control, 
such  as  a  landslide,  which  could  not  reasonably  have  been 
anticipated  or  foreseen,  and  that  no  amount  of  fines  paid 
could  enable  them  to  escape  punishment,  unless  they  could 
clear  themselves  of  the  presumption  against  them  resulting 
from  the  death  or  injury,  and  that  the  organization  of  the 
judiciary  and  prosecution  were  such  that  no  influence  could 
be  brought  to  bear  in  favor  of  those  charged,  beyond  the 
evidence  presented.  Most  likely  the  reader  will  feel  that 
such  methods  as  this  would  greatly  reduce  the  number  of 
casualties  caused  by  railways,  for  as  it  now  is,  those  who 
are  ultimately  responsible  are  seldom  or  never  called  upon 
to  defend  themselves  from  any  charge  in  connection  with 
these  casualties,  and  they  know  that,  at  the  worst,  some 
damages,  which  will  merely  be  assessed  as  a  part  of  the 
current  expenses,  may  have  to  be  paid,  and  that  if  there 
is  any  criminal  prosecution,  it  will  involve  only  some  poor 
engineman,  conductor,  switchman,  brakeman  or  telegraph 
operator;  that  is,  the  only  ones  liable  to  criminal  prosecu- 
tion are  the  subordinates;  the  principals  being  practically 
immune  from  punishment  in  all  such  cases. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  41 

Even  the  trainmen,  switchmen  or  other  subordinates  are 
seldom  held  for  criminal  prosecution  in  such  cases.  How 
different  this  is  from  what  it  is  in  some  of  the  older  coun- 
tries !  Well,  the  writer  remembers  a  case  in  France,  during 
the  reign  of  Louis  Napoleon,  in  which  a  gate  tender  at  a 
grade  crossing,  on  a  country  road,  left  his  gate  open  when 
a  train  was  approaching,  and  a  farmer,  seeing  the  gate 
open,  assumed  that  it  would  be  safe  to  cross,  but  was  struck 
by  the  train  and  killed,  for  which  the  gate  keeper  was 
charged  with  murder,  convicted  and  put  to  death. 

In  another  case,  a  pilot,  in  charge  of  a  vessel  entering  a 
French  port,  heard  the  vessel  scrape  over  some  object 
under  the  water,  and  he  began  to  wring  his  hands  in  an 
agony  of  distress,  and  upon  being  asked  by  a  passenger  why 
he  was  so  agitated,  replied  that  if  anything  went  wrong, 
it  was  a  matter  of  life  and  death  to  him.  Happily  the  ob- 
ject proved  to  be  merely  some  wreckage  that  had  drifted 
in,  which  did  no  harm  to  the  vessel. 

Accidents  may  be  reduced  to  a  minimum  by  fixing  the 
responsibility  upon  the  principles,  who  are  in  a  position 
to  enforce  the  precautions,  and  the  use  of  the  devices  re- 
quired to  guard,  as  much  as  possible,  against  accidents, 
instead  of  the  subordinates,  who  have  comparatively  little 
opportunity  to  control  in  those  matters  which  cause  ac- 
cidents. 

For  instance,  a  careful  study  of  the  causes  of  street  car 
accidents,  shows  that  most  of  them  result  from  running 
over  persons,  and  that  a  device  has  been  contrived  which 
makes  it  nearly  impossible  for  anyone  to  be  run  over  by 
a  street  car,  but,  as  this  costs  somewhat  more  than  the 
contrivances  in  general  use,  it  is  very  rarely  employed. 
Many  accidents,  both  in  city  and  country  have  resulted 
from  the  employment  of  incompetent,  or  inexperienced  per- 


42  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

sons,  sometimes  because  the  companies  were  unwilling  to 
pay  the  wages  demanded  by  competent  men,  and  in  a  num- 
ber of  cases  because  the  men  had  too  much  to  do,  either 
because  they  were  worked  longer  than  they  could  give 
proper  attention  to  their  work,  or  they  were  too  few  in 
number  for  the  work  to  be  done. 

Only  by  holding  the  principles  directly  responsible,  can 
we  hope  to  reduce  the  annual  sacrifice  caused  by  railways. 
To  accomplish  anything  in  this  way  the  judiciary  and  pros- 
ecutors must  be  independent,  and  not  to  be  unduly  in- 
fluenced in  the  performance  of  their  duties,  and  they  must 
feel  that,  in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  rich  and  poor  are  on  pre- 
cisely the  same  level.  It  is  stated  of  William  the  Con- 
queror that  he  went  a  little  further  than  this,  and  was  very 
"stark"  or  stern  with  the  great  and  the  powerful,  allow- 
ing no  attempt  on  their  part  to  influence  him  in  their  favor, 
but  to  the  poor  and  the  lowly  he  was  ever  gentle  and  con- 
descending. It  would  be  quite  interesting  to  be  able  to 
count  up  the  number  of  judges,  prosecutors,  and  other  pub- 
lic officials  who  adopt  that  line  of  conduct  at  the  present 
time,  and  the  writer's  private  opinion  is  that  it  would  by 
no  means  be  necessary  to  sit  up  over  night  to  count  the 
number  of  officials  of  that  stamp,  now  guarding  the  inter- 
ests of  the  people. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  43 


CHAPTER  III. 
The  United  States  Leads  in  Crime.    The  Remedy. 

In  the  United  States,  which  is  one  of  the  youngest  of 
nations,  we  have  already  had  three  presidents  assassinated, 
which  far  exceeds  the  number  of  rulers  or  potentates  as- 
sassinated in  any  other  country  during  the  same  time. 

In  the  year  1900  there  were  nearly  5,000  suicides  in  the 
United  States  from  gunshots  or  pistols  alone,  and  in  the 
year  1907  the  total  number  of  suicides  had  reached  the 
appalling  figure  of  not  far  short  of  11,000  thousand  per- 
sons, and  in  the  same  year  nearly  100,000  persons  were 
more  or  less  seriously  injured  by  firearms,  either  designedly, 
or  as  a  result  of  culpable  carelessness. 

The  Cost  of  Crime. 

Pioneer  Press,  March  3,  1908. 

"Harper's  Weekly  prints  an  article  in  which  the  total  cost 
of  crime,  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  annually,  is 
placed  at  the  staggering  sum  of  $1,076,327,605.99.  This 
peculiar  aggregate,  figured  down  even  to  cents,  might 
awaken  suspicion  were  it  not  shown  to  result  from  adding 
the  exact  results  of  some  official  bookkeeping  in  New  York 
to  estimates  necessarily  made  in  round  figures.  Among 
the  chief  items  are  the  cost  of  all  the  criminal  courts,  crim- 
inal losses  by  fire  which  totalled  $200,000,000,  government 
losses  by  postal  frauds  and  smuggling,  the  lost  wages  of 
prisoners,  and  the  support  of  criminals. 


44  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

That  a  very  large  part  of  the  crime  which  is  thus  cost- 
ing the  nation  over  a  billion  dollars  annually  is  the  fruit 
of  a  lax  administration  of  the  laws,  and  the  failure  of  our 
courts  to  stand  for  substantial  justice  as  against  the  tech- 
nicalities by  which  lawyers  protect  criminals,  is  certain. 
But  probably  a  still  larger  portion  is  due  to  a  defective 
educational  system. 

In  the  first  place,  we  have  felt  compelled  to  drive  from 
our  schools  any  teaching  of  man's  accountability  to  God 
—any  direct  moral  teaching  whatever.  In  pursuit  of  the 
idea  of  a  completely  secular  school  as  the  only  school  which 
could  properly  be  supported  by  the  state,  we  have  unwit- 
tingly starved  the  spiritual  nature  of  our  youth." 

What  is  the  remedy  for  this?  First,  to  divorce  the  judi- 
ciary entirely  from  politics,  by  appointing  the  judges  of  all 
classes,  upon  a  civil  service  system,  but  with  a  safeguard 
against  improper  and  unjust  appointments  by  the  "recall" 
for  that  places  it  in  the  power  of  the  people  to  remove  a 
venal  judge.  An  independent,  impartial  judiciary,  not  com- 
pelled to  rely  for  their  tenure  of  office  very  largely  upon 
the  very  element  which  should  be  dealt  with  most  un- 
compromisingly, as  is  now  the  case.  The  writer  is  one  of 
those  who  believes  that  the  great  mass  of  the  people  are  in 
favor  of  good  government  and  of  honest,  impartial  judges; 
for  if  this  should  cease  to  be  the  case,  there  would  be  no 
hope  left  for  the  country  excepting  the  chance  of  having  a 
just  autocrat  assume  the  reins  of  government  with  absolute, 
despotic  power,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  we  have  not  yet 
come  to  quite  that  state  of  affairs. 

Second.  There  is  no  doubt  that  our  entire  present  judi- 
cial system  has  outlived  its  usefulness,  and  requires  a  most 
radical  reform. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  45 

Fines  Grossly  Unjust,  and  a  Positive  Premium  Upon  Crime. 

Third.  One  of  the  greatest  of  all  the  evils  that  we  labor 
under  is  the  system  of  imposing  fines  for  penalties.  To  the 
rich,  a  fine  is  nothing  especially,  as  has  been  the  case  in  so 
many  instances,  when  the  fine  amounts  to  a  fraction  only 
of  the  ill-gotten  gains  for  which  the  culprit  has  been  con- 
victed. On  the  other  hand,  for  the  poor,  a  fine  almost 
invariably  has  the  effect  of  punishing  the  innocent  for  the 
guilty.  For  instance,  a  miserable  drunkard  comes  home 
and  beats  his  poor  wife  and  children,  and  when  she  seeks 
the  protection  of  the  court,  the  brutal  husband  is  usually 
fined,  if  he  has  any  money.  This  simply  means  that  the 
money  required  for  the  support  of  the  wife  and  children 
is  taken  from  them  to  pay  the  fine,  leaving  them  to  suffer 
in  consequence  of  the  very  offense  for  which  the  husband 
has  been  convicted. 

Fourth.  The  only  real  check  upon  offenses  of  personal 
violence  is  the  whipping  post,  for  there  is  nothing,  that  is 
more  dreaded  by  both  rich  and  poor  than  bodily  pain,  and 
this  is  just  what  should  be  inflicted  upon  them  in  punish- 
ment for  acts  of  violence  to  others,  and  in  those  places, 
both  in  this  country  and  elsewhere,  where  this  punishment 
is  imposed  it  has  always  had  a  most  salutary  effect  in  check- 
ing this  class  of  offenses. 

It  is  nonsense  to  talk  of  the  degrading  effect  of  such  a 
punishment,  for  you  cannot  spoil  a  bad  egg,  and  anyone 
who  is  low  enough  to  be  guilty  of  such  offenses  will  cer- 
tainly not  be  made  any  lower  by  the  infliction  of  suitable 
punishment.  On  the  contrary,  by  putting  a  check  upon 
his  misconduct  he  is  at  once  raised  to  a  higher  plane  than 
he  before  occupied. 


46  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

For  many  other  offenses  also  the  whipping  post  would 
have  a  most  salutary  effect.  For  instance,  we  will  sup- 
pose that  a  man  of  means  speeds  his  automobile  along  the 
streets  and  other  public  highways,  in  utter  defiance  of  the 
laws  forbidding  this,  and  quite  regardless  of  the  safety  of 
others,  as  has  sometimes  actually  been  the  case;  he  knows 
that  in  case  of  conviction  the  worst  that  will  happen  to 
him  will  be  to  have  a  fine  to  pay.  What  does  he  care  for 
this?  Some  such  persons  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  they 
are  quite  willing  to  pay  the  fine  for  the  "privilege"  of 
thus  disregarding  the  law.  But  can  we  imagine  that  such 
a  person  would  thus  defy  the  law  if  he  knew  that  he  was 
pretty  sure  to  be  subjected  to  several  lashes  at  a  whipping 
post  for  so  doing,  with  an  increase  in  the  number  for  each 
succeeding  offense?  No  indeed,  such  a  thing  is  not  to  be 
thought  of.  Moreover  the  writer  blames  the  courts  and 
the  poor  laws,  especially  those  which  enable  one  to  escape 
d,ny  real  punishment  by  the  mere  payment  of  a  fine,  much 
more  than  he  blames  the  offenders  in  such  cases,  for  "we 
all  are  prone  to  wonder"  and  when  the  punishment  for 
offenses  consists  of  fines  only,  it  is  a  positive  invitation  to 
those  who  are  able  to  pay  them  to  do  as  they  please,  and 
such  laws  are  a  dead  letter.  Possibly  they  have  been  en- 
acted for  the  express  purpose  of  allowing  immunity  to 
those  who  are  able  to  pay  for  it,  leaving  the  poor  only 
liable  to  real  punishment  for  like  offenses. 

The  writer  has  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  in  his  opinion 
the  system  of  imposing  fines  for  offenses  is  the  most  per- 
nicious possible  method  that  can  be  employed. 

Origin  of  Fines. 

After  the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire,  when  Europe  was 
overrun  by  the  hordes  from  Asia,  they  relied  mainly  upon 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  47 

brute  strength  for  success  in  all  their  undertakings,   and 
the  feeble  and  helpless  counted  for  but  little.     The  rulers, 
in  order  to  keep  their  subjects  under  control,  inflicted  the 
most  frightful'  physical  tortures  upon  those  who  offended 
them,  such  as  plucking  out  their    eyes,  cutting    off    their 
hands,  boring  a  hole  in  the  tongue  with  a  red  hot  iron,* 
and  many  other  dreadful  cruelties.     As  these  people  grad- 
ually  came   under   the    influence   of  Christian   civilization, 
the  church  undertook  to  put  a  check  upon  these  inhuman 
practices,  and  using  one  human  weakness  as  an  offset  to 
another,    she    succeeded    in   introducing   the   imposition    of 
fines  in  place  of  the  tortures  to  which  it  had  been  customary 
to  subject  offenders  against  the  rulers,  and  those  in  power, 
no  doubt  influenced  in  part  at  least  by  their  cupidity,  read- 
ily dropped  into  the  habit  of   demanding  a  money  com- 
pensation from  offenders  as  a  substitute  for  the  physical 
tortures  to  which  they  had  previously  subjected  them,  and 
and  so  the  system  of  fines  originated.     But  whatever  may 
have  been  its  advantages  in  mitigating  the  cruelties  of  those 
times,   today  it   simply  serves   as   a  means  for  providing 
immunity  to  offenders   able   to  pay  their    fines,   while    it 
works  a  very  great  hardship  upon  the  poor,  and  frequently 
the  greatest  injustice,  by  causing  all  the  distress  from  the 
imposition  of  the  fine  to  be  endured  by  the  very  victims 
of  the  offense  for  which  the  fine  is  imposed.     At  best  it 
works  a  most   odious  injustice  in  favor  of  the  rich  and 
against  the  poor  who  are  least  able  to  bear  it,  and  where 
there  is  an  alternative  between  a  fine  and  imprisonment, 
the   injustice   may   be   even   still   greater,   as   the   wealthy 
offender  practically  escapes  all  punishment,  while  the  poor 
man     who  cannot  pay  his  fine  may  undergo  irreparable  in- 
jury as  a  result  of  his  imprisonment. 


48  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

Any  punishment  which  does  not  affect  rich  and  poor 
alike,  far  from  amounting  to  an  administration  of  justice, 
is  a  disgraceful  parody  upon  justice. 

One  of  the  greatest  evils  of  our  whole  judicial  system  in 
criminal  procedure  is  the  outrageous  delays  which  are  so 
"common,  in  spite  of  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  and  of  the  various  states  providing  that 
persons  charged  with  offenses  shall  be  entitled  to  prompt 
trial. 

Some  years  ago  a  lawyer,  addressing  the  state  bar  asso- 
ciation of  the  state  of  Washington,  remarked,  that  "Justice 
delayed  is  too  often  justice  denied."  Many  a  poor,  inno- 
cent man,  has  languished  in  jail  waiting  for  trial,  while  he 
undergoes  loss,  for  which  there  is  no  adequate  redress. 
This  is  an  evil  which  should  be  put  an  end  to  by  every 
means  available  to  the  people,  as  any  man  may  be  falsely 
accused  of  crime  under  conditions  which  preclude  the 
possibility  of  his  furnishing  bail,  and  which  may  compel 
him  to  remain  in  jail  while  awaiting  trial.  No  man  should 
ever  be  subjected  to  prosecution  under  a  criminal  charge 
unless  the  prosecution  is  ready  for  immediate  trial,  and 
this  is  undoubtedly  the  intention  of  those  who  framed  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  various  states. 

Prevention  of  Suicides. 

Suicide  is  the  most  despicable  of  all  crimes,  and  unques- 
tionably one  reason  why  it  is  so  prevalent  is  that  the  at- 
titude of  the  public  in  general,  and  of  the  civil  authorities 
in  particular  is  altogether  wrong.  Too  often  a  suicide  is 
spoken  of  as  if  he  or  she  had  done  something  positively 
heroic  in  inflicting  self-murder.  If  the  civil  authorities, 
and  all  those  in  a  position  to  exert  the  greatest  influence, 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  49 

would  treat  it  simply  as  the  most  revolting  of  all  crimes, 
there  would  soon  be  a  change  for  the  better. 

There  was  a  time  when  a  suicide  was  not  allowed  to  be 
buried  like  a  human  being,  but  was  tied  to  the  tail  of  a 
horse,  dragged  through  the  public  highways  to  a  cross- 
road, where  the  remains  were  thrown  upon  the  ground,  a 
stake  driven  through  the  body  and  the  corpse  left  to  be 
devoured  by  the  dogs  and  the  carrion  birds.  Dreadful  as 
this  was,  and  terrible  as  it  must  have  been  to  the  unhappy 
relatives  of  the  victim  of  self-murder,  yet  such  an  attitude 
was  far  more  consistent  than  to  shower  flowers  upon  the 
remains  of  the  dead  criminal  as  is  now  not  unfrequently 
done. 

If  a  suicide  knew  that  his  remains  would  be  treated  with 
the  utmost  possible  indignity,  and  that  nothing  at  all  ap- 
proaching a  Christian,  or  even  decent  burial  would  be  per- 
mitted by  the  authorities,  many  persons  who  now  have 
recourse  to  this  means  of  hastening  their  departure  from 
this  life,  would  be  deterred  from  doing  so.  But  when  it  is 
treated  as  if  it  were  not  a  crime  at  all,  instead  of  being  the 
very  worst  of  all  possible  crimes,  it  is  looked  upon  quite  dif- 
ferently by  those  who  may  be  so  weak  and  unprincipled  as 
to  think  of  such  a  thing. 

Suicide  is  utterly  opposed  to  the  first  principles  of  Chris- 
tian civilization,  and  is  impossible  to  any  but  those  who 
have  entirely  abandoned  every  claim  to  being  considered 
Christian,  or  even  rational;  the  only  exception  to  this  be- 
ing in  those  cases  where  the  suicide  was  clearly  either  in- 
sane, or  where  there  was  good  reason  to  doubt  his  sanity. 

A  healthful  public  sentiment,  fostered  by  the  civil  au- 
thorities, and  by  those  best  qualified  to  exert  an  influence 
upon  public  sentiment,  would  reduce  this  frightful  crime 


50 

far  below  its  present  enormous  number,  each  year  in  the 
United  States. 

Idle  Rich  Come  Under  Provisions  of  Hobo  Bill  in  Maryland. 

Annapolis,  Md. — "The  idle  rich  as  well  as  the  idle  poor 
come  under  a  bill  introduced  by  Delegate  John  A.  Garrett 
in  the  Maryland  house  of  delegates. 

The  bill  fixes  the  penalty  for  vagrancy  at  from  ninety 
days  to  three  years  in  the  house  of  correction  for  the  first 
offense,  and  longer  terms  for  subsequent  offenses. 

A  salient  feature  of  the  proposed  law  is  that  which  de- 
fines as  vagrants  not  only  the  tramp  or  hobo,  but  any  per- 
son who  leads  an  idle  and  immoral  life,  who  is  not  engaged 
in  some  useful  and  reputable  occupation,  or  who  spends  his 
time  around  the  railroad  station,  the  steamboat  wharf,  the 
pool  room  or  the  village  store." 

Rugby,  Improperly  Called  Football,  More  Destructive  Than 

War. 

For  the  numbers  actually  engaged  "Rugby"  which  goes 
under  the  misnomer  of  football,  is  far  more  destructive 
than  battle,  and  the  following  statement  by  one  who  has 
probably  had  as  much  experience  in  actual  fighting,  as  a 
military  commander,  as  any  man  now  living,  far  from  being 
an  exaggeration,  is  a  very  moderate  statement  upon  the 
subject: 

"FOOTBALL  MAKES  WAR   LOOK   LIKE   A   PICNIC." 

Mosby,  Guerrilla  Chieftain,  Denounces    Sport    and    Roasts 
Athletes  Bitterly. 

Richmond,  Va.,  Nov.  27,  1909. -Col.  John  S.  Mosby, 
Confederate  guerrilla  chieftain  and  later  land  commissioner 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  51 

of  the  United  States,  denounces  football  as  worse  than  ac- 
tual warfare.  He  maintains  that  the  great  number  of  fa- 
talities represent  so  many  murders,  and  proclaims  that  the 
past  and  present  ideals  of  manhood  in  the  great  American 
universities  represent  the  difference  between  Stonewall 
Jackson  and  a  pugilist. 

"The  defenders  of  such  sport  say  it  develops  the  man- 
hood. I  deny  it,  unless  by  manhood  they  mean  physical 
strength.  My  idea  of  manhood  is  a  sense  of  honor  and  cour- 
age, and  such  qualities  may  exist  in  a  weak  body. 

"Football  simply  develops  the  brute  dormant  in  a  man's 
nature,  and  puts  the  player  on  a  level  with  a  polar  bear. 
Napoleon  once  said:  'Scratch  a  Russian  and  you  find  a 
Tartar,'  implying  that  Russian  civilization  was  only  skin 
deep.  If  the  university  is  a  fair  representative,  I  fear  that 
the  same  sarcasm  equally  applies  in  Virginia.  My  obser- 
vation has  been  that  athletes  belong,  as  a  rule,  to  that  class 
who  are  invincible  in  peace  and  invisible  in  war." 

Real  football,  sometimes  called  Association  Football,  has 
but  very  little  resemblance  to  the  brutal  and  degrading 
game  of  "Rugby"  which  has  usually  been  played  by  uni- 
versity and  college  boys  in  the  United  States,  although  in 
recent  years  some  of  the  foremost  educational  institutions 
in  the  country  have  entirely  done  away  with  it,  which  is 
much  to  their  credit. 

Real  football  is  played  in  two  different  ways:  One  way 
is  for  the  whole  school  or  crowd,  no  matter  how  many  they 
may  be,  to  line  up  together,  and  then  one  of  them  selected 
by  "choosing  up"  or  by  any  other  means  agreed  upon, 
kicks  the  ball  in  the  direction  of  a  goal  some  hundreds  of 
yards  away,  and,  the  whole  crowd  join  in  the  racing  and 
kicking,  the  object  being  to  see  who  will  be  successful  in 
giving  the  last  kick  that  carries  it  across  the  line. 


52 

Another  way  is  for  all  present,  number  unlimited,  to  line 
up,  in  equal  halves,  on  opposite  sides,  and  then  try  to  kick 
it  over  one  of  two  lines  some  hundreds  of  yards  apart. 

In  either  way  of  playing,  the  whole  game  consists  in 
running  and  kicking  the  ball,  and  it  is  a  splendid  game 
for  boys,  but  such  a  thing  as  trying  to  throw  another  boy 
down,  or  trip  him,  or  otherwise  interfere  with  him  than  by 
trying  to  get  ahead  of  him  in  kicking  the  ball,  would  not 
be  allowed  for  a  moment,  and  would  result  in  his  being 
driven  out  of  the  game  at  once  as  unfit  to  play  in  it. 

Rowdyism  Rampant. 

It  is  almost  imposisble  to  go  anywhere  without  being  in- 
sulted by  profane  or  other  indecent  language.  It  is  the 
same  in  the  streets,  in  public  conveyances,  at  many  public 
gatherings,  almost  everywhere,  so  that  one  can  scarcely  go 
anywhere  to  escape  being  soused  with  the  filth  and  vileness 
of  bad  language. 

There  are  two  causes  for  this:  First,  the  pitiful  igno- 
rance and  want  of  home  training  of  those  who  acquire  this 
disgusting  and  degrading  habit,  for,  with  them,  it  is  far 
more  the  result  of  the  grossest  ignorance  and  want  of 
training  than  from  malice  or  viciousness,  for,  as  a  rule, 
those  guilty  of  this  abomination  are  not  really  vicious  or 
malicious,  at  least  in  regard  to  this  matter.  This  may  be 
proved  by  anyone  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  courteously 
and  tactfully  rebuke  those  who  are  addicted  to  this  habit; 
and  the  writer  takes  pleasure  in  stating  that,  although  he 
has  many  times  rebuked  persons  for  using  this  language, 
he  has  never  met  with  a  discourteous  rejoinder;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  in  every  case  but  one,  the  language  has  been 
promptly  stopped  by  the  offending  party,  and  almost  al- 
ways with  a  polite  apology  for  having  used  it.  The  excep- 


DOWNFALL    OF  THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  53 

tional  case  was  of  a  man  who  was  working  under  the  su- 
pervision of  the  writer,  and  who  became  belligerent  upon 
being  rebuked,  with  the  result  that  he  was  promptly 
"fired." 

If  those  who  are  guilty  of  such  misbehavior  could  only 
see  themselves  as  others  see  them,  as  they  are  looked  upon 
by  everyone  for  whom  they  themselves  have  any  respect, 
they  would  quickly  discontinue  so  low  and  senseless  a 
habit. 

When  the  writer  sees  some  poor,  ignorant  fellow,  even 
though  he  may  chance  to  be  well  dressed,  going  through 
the  streets,  using  profane,  or  other  bad  language,  it  always 
makes  him  think  of  some  poor,  crazy  fool,  who  has  rolled 
himself  in  the  vilest  filth  that  he  could  find  in  some  vault, 
and  then  parades  himself  through  the  streets,  thinking  that 
others  are  really  admiring  him  for  it,  instead  of  holding 
their  noses  and  trying  to  avoid  him  as  far  as  possible. 

The  second  cause  of  the  prevalence  of  bad  language  is 
the  moral  cowardice  of  those  who  object  to  it,  but  who  fail 
to  rebuke  those  who  use  it,  possibly  through  the  fear  of 
offending  those  who  are  guilty  of  this  bad  conduct,  forget- 
ting that  they,  who  are  insulted  by  hearing  such  language 
are  the  ones  who  have  ground  for  indignation,  and  not 
those  who  have  offended  in  this  way  against  public  decency. 

It  is  like  the  case  of  the  darkey  who  went  to  see  the 
preacher  whose  dog  had  bitten  him,  and  said,  "that  dog 
of  yours  bit  me  and  I'm  going  to  shoot  him."  To  which 
the  preacher  answered,  "why,  the  dog  is  not  mad."  To 
which  the  man  who  had  been  bitten  replied,  "mad,  of 
course  he's  not  mad,  what's  he  got  to  be  mad  about.  I'm 
the  one  that's  mad." 

If  those  who  hear  this  language  would  always  act  upon 
the  principle  that  nothing  can  be  a  greater  insult  to  any 


54  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

decent  person  than  to  use  such  language  in  his  presence, 
and  make  a  habit  of  rebuking  those  who  use  it,  whenever 
it  can  be  done  without  good  reason  to  believe  that  it  would 
do  no  good,  and  would  lead  to  a  breach  of  the  peace,  this 
great  and  growing  evil  would  soon  decrease,  with  every 
prospect  of  being  banished,  at  least  from  the  public  streets 
and  from  public  conveyances. 

In  many  cases,  where  other  means  fail  to  stop  it,  a  threat 
to  have  the  offender  arrested  under  the  laws  which  exist 
in  many  places  for  the  punishment  of  this  violation  of  public 
decency,  would  have  the  desired  effect. 

No  doubt  the  moral  cowardice  of  those  who  hear  this 
language,  and  do  not  take  such  means  as  may  be  available 
to  stop  it,  does  more  than  anything  else  to  encourage  it. 

Many  men  would  promptly  resent  being  called  liars  or 
thieves,  but  when  covered  with  the  filth  of  vile  language 
they  pay  no  attention  to  it,  which  certainly  makes  them 
participants  in  the  offense,  just  as  much  as  they  would  be 
if  they  should  allow  a  human  being  or  an  animal  to  be 
subjected  to  cruelty  without  taking  the  means  to  stop  it,  or 
at  least  having  the  offender  punished. 

While  a  meddlesome  person,  constantly  interfering  with 
the  business  of  others  is  the  greatest  nuisance,  if  decent 
members  of  the  community  do  not  work  for  public  de- 
cency they  are  responsible  for  the  failure  of  others  to  pay 
due  regard  to  decency. 

A  clergyman  was  once  seated  beside  a  stage-coach  driver 
while  on  a  journey,  and  the  driver,  like  most  of  his  kind, 
had  many  very  interesting  experiences  and  stories  to  tell; 
but  his  stories  were  spoiled  by  the  use  of  much  profanity. 

After  the  driver  had  told  a  story,  the  clergyman  said 
he  would  tell  one.  So  he  began:  Shovels,  boots  and  fire 
tongs,  as  I  was  going,  shovels,  boots  and  fire  tongs,  to  see, 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  55 

shovels,  boots  and  fire  tongs,  a  friend  of  mine,  shovels,  boots 
and  fire  tongs,  I  found,  shovels,  boots  and  fire  tongs,  that 
the  road,  shovels,  boots  and  fire  tongs,  was  washed  out, 
shovels,  boots  and  fire  tongs;  and  so  he  went  on,  repeating 
the  words  shovels,  boots  and  fire  tongs,  after  every  few 
words  of  his  story.  After  he  had  got  on  a  little  way  with 
the  story  the  driver  asked  him  why  he  kept  saying  shovels, 
boots  and  fire  tongs  so  often.  The  clergyman  replied  that 
it  was  just  as  sensible  as  what  the  driver  had  been  saying, 
referring  to  his  constant  use  of  profanity  while  talking,  but 
that  unlike  the  swearing,  there  was  no  harm  in  it.  Cer- 
tainly nothing  can  be  more  utterly  foolish,  unreasonable 
and  senseless  to  every  sensible  person  than  .the  constant  use 
of  profanity  while  talking. 

It  has  been  stated,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  it  is  strictly  true,  that  among  all  the  Indian  languages 
in  North  America,  there  is  not  one  in  which  there  are  any 
words  in  which  profanity  can  be  expressed.  This  is  food 
for  reflection,  for  few  would  willingly  admit  that  they  are 
inferior  to  the  savages  of  the  wilderness;  and  yet  the  man 
who  degrades  himself  by  using  profane  language  is  certainly 
lower  than  a  savage  who  does  not  do  this. 

Bad  Manners  Prevalent. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  the  manners  of  the  young  are 
growing  worse,  for  unhappily  many  of  them  appear  to 
have  no  idea  whatever  of  the  difference  between  good  man- 
ners and  bad  manners,  and  many  of  them  seem  never  to 
have  been  taught  that  noisy,  boisterous  manners  are  bad 
manners  and  that  quiet,  polite  manners  are  good  manners. 
They  do  not  seem  to  know  that  one  who  is  noisy,  espe- 
cially in  public  places,  is  regarded  by  all  well  bred  persons 


56  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

as  loud  and  vulgar,  and  that  good  manners,  on  the  con- 
trary are  never  loud,  or  at  least  where  they  may  possibly 
be  a  cause  of  annoyance  to  others.  Hence  the  boisterous 
manners  of  so  many  young  persons,  the  shouting  and  col- 
lege yells  so  common,  when  a  lot  of  school  or  college  boys 
get  together  at  a  railway  station  or  in  public  conveyances, 
are  neither  more  nor  less  than  simple  rowdyism,  although 
they  may  be  harmless  enough  in  the  woods  or  fields,  or  on 
the  play  grounds  of  a  school  or  college. 
,  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  more  schooling  some  young 
persons  have,  the  worse  their  manners  become.  The  boys 
and,  sometimes  even  the  girls,  who  in  the  graded  schools, 
or  high  schools,  were  well  enough  behaved,  when  they  get 
to  the  college  or  university,  become  the  dread  of  all  per- 
sons who  wish  to  live  quiet  and  orderly  lives.  This  cer- 
tainly does  not  speak  well  for  the  education  given  at  these 
institutions,  for  the  manners  of  their  graduates  should  be 
a  very  good  intimation  of  what  they  have  learned,  and  if 
they  do  not  learn  to  behave  with  common  propriety  of  man- 
ners, even  when  in  public  places,  and  in  public  conveyances, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  know  what  benefit  they  have  derived 
from  their  schooling. 

A  wise  writer  once  stated  that  "good  makes  no  noise, 
and  noise  does  no  good."  This  is  especially  true  of  man- 
ners, and  particularly  of  the  young,  and  when  they  exhibit 
loud,  rowdyish  manners,  it  is  quite  evident  that  they  have 
failed  to  learn  the  first  essential  of  a  good  education,  which 
should  be  a  knowledge  of  how  to  behave  themselves. 

The  peasants  of  Europe,  The  Chinese,  Japanese,  African 
Negroes  or  American  Indians,  would  be  ashamed  to  exhibit 
such  bad  manners  as  now  prevail  in  many  of  our  colleges 
and  universities.  While  all  these  peoples  are  heathens, 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  57 

without  the  advantages  of  Christian  civilization,  none  of 
them  would  demean  themselves  by  the  rudeness  and  want 
of  consideration  for  others  shown  by  college  and  university 
students  who  too  often  make  public  nuisances  of  themselves 
by  their  bad  manners. 

The  following  account  was  published  some  years  ago  in 
the  daily  papers: 

A  Chinaman  was  walking  along  a  street  in  San  Francisco 
on  a  wet  day  when  the  streets  were  filled  with  liquid  mud. 
He  was  dressed  according  to  the  manner  of  his  countrymen, 
some  of  his  apparel  being  very  handsome  and  of  silk 
material.  As  he  walked  along  the  crowded  sidewalk  some 
ruffian  gave  him  a  push  which  sent  him  at  full  length  into 
a  mud  puddle.  Some  of  the  crowd  were  uncivilized  enough 
to  break  out  into  a  laugh  at  this  brutal  behavior.  In  a 
moment  the  Chinaman  picked  himself  up,  and  as  he  was 
trying  to  get  rid  of  some  6f  the  mud  that  covered  his 
clothing,  he  remarked:  "You  Christian,  me  heathen,  good- 
bye." The  rebuke  was  keenly  felt  by  many  of  the  on- 
lookers. 

We  hear  much  boasting  about  our  American  civilization, 
but  too  often  we  forget  that  the  first  essential  of  civilization 
is  to  be  always  civil,  that  is,  polite  and  considerate  to 
others,  and  that  they  who  fail  in  this  lose  all  claim  to  be 
called  civilized. 

What  Is  a  Gentleman? 

There  are  persons  who  appear  to  labor  under  the  im- 
pression that  to  be  a  gentleman  one  must  have  plenty  of 
money  and  nothing  to  do,  but  this  can  be  shown  to  be  a 
false  view  of  the  subject. 


58  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

A  European  who  was  asking  for  charity  stated  that  he 
was  a  gentleman  and  unable  to  work.  When  asked  what 
he  meant  by  a  gentleman,  he  replied  that  a  gentleman  was 
one  who  had  never  done  any  work,  and  whose  father  and 
grandfather  had  never  done  any  work,  either.  The  Ameri- 
can to  whom  he  was  talking,  said  that  in  the  United  States 
we  had  many  persons  of  that  description,  but  that  we 
called  them  tramps. 

A  gentleman  is  one  who  is  kind  in  word  and  manner, 
one  who  is  "gentle"  from  which  is  derived  the  word  "gen- 
tle man"  or  "gentleman;"  he  is  therefore  one  who  applies 
the  "Golden  Rule"  in  his  daily  life,  from  which  it  follows 
that  to  be  a  gentleman  it  is  not  necessary  to  have  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  money;  to  keep  up  a  certain  style  of  living, 
nor  to  despise  work  or  manual  labor. " 

When  among  persons  of  wealth  the  writer  has  met  with 
numbers  who  had  the  advantages  of  a  liberal  education, 
of  delightful  manners,  and  most  attractive  by  reason  of 
their  refinement  and  culture;  yet  among  the  poorest  of  the 
poor  and  the  most  illiterate  he  has  also  found  persons 
whose  manners  were  quite  as  good,  and  just  as  refined  as 
the  manners  of  those  who  had  been  more  favored  with  the 
goods  of  this  world,  and  judging  by  the  good  old  test  that 
"humility  is  the  test  of  gentility"  the  poor  and  the  illit- 
erate Avould  make  a  better  showing  than  the  rich. 

In  referring  to  a  hard  working  mechanic,  a  workman 
once  remarked  to  the  writer,  "He  is  a  perfect  gentleman" 
and  daily  communication  with  this  mechanic  for  some  time 
afterwards  fully  verified  this  statement. 

Those  who  consider  that  work,  or  even  manual  labor,  is 
beneath  the  dignity  of  a  gentleman  are  sometimes  con- 
fronted by  the  venerable  saying,  "When  Adam  delved  and 


DOWNFALL    OP   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  59 

Eve  span,  where  was  then  the  gentleman?"  Moreover, 
there  are  few  who  would  have  the  hardihood  to  deny  that 
the  most  perfect  gentleman  who  ever  trod  this  earth,  and 
who  is  universally  recognized  as  the  type  and  model  to  be 
copied  by  every  gentleman,  was  a  poor,  hard  working  car- 
penter, who  in  His  own  time  was  known  as  Jesus  of  Na- 
zareth, and  who  today  is  known  as  Christ  the  Savior  of 
mankind. 


60  STARTLING  STATEMENTS 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  REMEDY  FOR  LABOR  TROUBLES. 

Cause  of  Anthracite  Coal  Strike.     The  Complete  Remedy. 

Written  at  the  time  of  the  great  anthracite  coal  strike  in 

Pennsylvania. 

The  underlying  cause  of  the  coal  strike  in  Pennsylvania, 
as  of  all  the  industrial  disturbances  in  this  country,  is  the 
entire  absence  of  any  economic  system  in  our  country,  or 
of  anything  in  the  least  approaching  to  such  a  system. 

Such  a  system  must  be  founded  and  developed  in  wis- 
dom. Wisdom  can  be  acquired  by  study  and  mature  ex- 
perience only,  and  as  the  experience  of  even  the  longest 
life  is  inadequate  to  enable  anyone  to  acquire  wisdom,  it 
necessarily  follows  that  it  can  be  acquired  only  by  learning 
from  the  experience  of  others. 

The  utter  failure  of  the  average  American  to  realize  this 
fact,  and  the  constant  silly  assertion  and  belief  that  we  are 
further  advanced  and  know  more  than  older  nations  who 
have  dealt  with  economic  and  industrial  problems  from 
times  many  hundreds  of  years  before  we  had  ever  been 
heard  of  as  a  nation,  and  who  have  successfully  solved  the 
problems  which  are  now  rushing  us  into  a  veritable  mael- 
strom of  destruction;  this  gross  ignorance  on  our  part,  and 
this  childish  vanity  which  have  made  most  of  us  unwilling 
to  learn  from  the  only  sources  from  which  the  necessary  in- 
formation could  be  obtained,  have  driven  us  into  an  emer- 
gency which  now  requires  unusual  remedies  quite  beyond 


DOWNFALL    OP   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  61 

the  capacity  of  the  great  majority  of  professional  office- 
holders. 

We  have  had  too  much  statecraft,  too  little  statesman- 
ship; too  much  legislation,  too  little  law;  too  many  judi- 
cial decisions,  too  little  justice. 

An  hour's  reading  of  an  outline  sketch  of  the  economic 
and  industrial  methods  employed  in  the  little  kingdoms  of 
Bavaria,  Belgium  and  Holland,  will  teach  the  reader  more 
upon  these  subjects  than  he  is  likely  to  learn  in  a  life- 
time by  studying  the  undeveloped  and  infantile  experience 
of  our  brief  span  of  national  life. 

The  foregoing  causes  have  left  the  way  open  and  unim- 
peded for  grasping  and  unscrupulous  men  and  combinations 
of  men  to  oppress  their  workmen  until  their  condition  has 
become  "intolerable."  This  is  so  well  known  and  has  been 
proven  so  many  times  and  in  so  many  ways  that  it  will 
not  be  discussed  further  here,  although  the  great  combina- 
tions of  capitalists  which  pursue  this  course  seem  entirely 
unconscious  of  the  fact  that  by  so  doing  they  are  plunging 
headlong  to  their  own  speedy  and  inevitable  destruction, 
like  all  their  predecessors  in  like  schemes. 

At  present,  in  the  United  States,  workmen  in  a  number 
of  avocations  are  the  most  poorly  paid  in  the  world,  and 
the  writer  will  prove  this  somewhat  startling  statement, 
from  United  States  government  statistics. 

In  ascertaining  and  applying  the  remedy  for  the  coal 
strike  the  first  prerequisite  and  sine  qua  non  is  that  the 
chief  executive  of  the  state  or  nation  must  fully  realize  the 
essential  fact  that  a  chief  executive,  in  a  great  emergency, 
must  be  prepared  to  apply  unusual  remedies  and  assume 
the  risk  and  responsibility  of  doing  so,  and  that  if  he  is 
not  willing  and  able  to  do  this  he  is  a  mere  incumbrance  to 
his  office  and  should  vacate  it  at  once. 


62 

He  must  entirely  disabuse  his  mind  of  all  comparisons  as 
to  financial  and  social  distinctions  between  the  opposing 
factions  and  be  prepared  to  do  equal  justice  in  the  premises 
without  fear  or  favor. 

With  these  dispositions  the  exercise  of  a  little  common 
sense  will  show  the  paramount  necessity  and  obligation  to 
"cut  the  gordian  knot"  without  wasting  time  in  looking 
for  "precedents"  and  legislative  enactments  in  cases  for 
which  none  may  be  expected.  The  president  or  governor 
or  both  must  make  the  precedent  as  would  have  to  be  done 
in  any  other  pressing  necessity,  as  in  the  case  of  a  sinking 
ship,  a  sudden  and  extensive  fire,  a  cyclone  or  other  similar 
and  unforeseen  calamity. 

A  few  well  known  axioms  will  convince  the  responsible 
party  that  he  has  the  approval  and  support  of  all  good 
citizens :  ' '  The  right  to  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness"  which  he  is  bound  to  protect  in  all  the  people, 
with  all  that  this  means.  That  no  law  shall  be  made  in 
restraint  of  trade,  and  that  therefore  much  more  must  all 
acts  in  restraint  of  trade  be  prevented.  "The  laborer  is 
worthy  of  his  hire"  and  that  defrauding  laborers  of  their 
wages  and  'oppression  of  the  poor  are  among  the  most 
heinous  of  crimes;  and  that  finally,  at  least  four-fifths  of 
the  nation  have  a  right  to  an  immediate  termination  of  the 
rapidly  increasing  distress  which  prevails. 

Ordinary  Remedies  Have  Failed.     An  Unusual  One  Must 
Be  Employed. 

Troops  have  been  called  out  to  protect  the  mines.  Use 
the  troops  to  do  full  justice.  Do  not  stop  half  way.  Pro- 
tect the  rights  of  the  miners  and  of  the  entire  country. 
Reopen  the  mines  forthwith.  Pay  the  men  living  wages, 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  63 

and  give  them  every  opportunity,  by  weighing,  or  other- 
wise, to  know  what  pay  is  coming  to  them.  The  operators, 
by  refusing  a  most  fair  and  reasonable  proposition  for  set- 
tlement by  the  arbitration  of  the  president,  after  accusing 
the  men  of  standing  in  the  way  of  arbitration,  have  pro- 
longed the  trouble  indefinitely.  According  to  the  good,  old 
legal  axiom,  "Let  him  who  causes  the  wrong  bear  it."  Let 
the  operators  be  ignored  for  the  present  and  let  the  nation 
at  large  have  a  little  consideration. 

Get  out  the  coal  now,  and  then  let  the  men  and  the  oper- 
ators take  all  the  time  they  like  to  settle  their  differences, 
in  the  meantime  paying  a  reasonable  price  to  the  owners 
of  the  coal  for  what  is  mined  and  for  its  transportation. 
If  the  carrying  companies  impede  the  carrying  of  the  coal, 
put  a  reasonable  postal  rate  upon  the  coal,  as  has  often  been 
done  in  a  new  western  country  for  bulky  and  heavy  mat- 
ter, let  the  coal  be  shipped  as  mail  matter  in  sealed  cars 
and  then  protect  the  United  States  mails. 

The  troops  are  on  hand  at  the  scene  of  the  trouble,  and 
there  is  ample  ground  for  declaring  martial  law  in  the  dis- 
turbed districts.  With  this  done,  a  number  of  quartermas- 
ters, commissaries  and  paymasters  can  readily  keep  all 
requisite  accounts  and  attend  to  business  details,  and  when 
assured  of  protection  in  their  "Right  to  life,  liberty  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness"  the  miners  may  be  relied  upon  to 
return  to  work,  with  a  mighty  cheer  and  a  hearty  good  will. 

It  will  be  asked  by  what  right  the  state  or  federal  gov- 
ernment can  take  the  coal  from  the  mines.  By  exactly  the 
same  right  by  which  supplies  are  taken  in  time  of  war  or 
other  public  necessity.  At  such  times  foraging  is  carried  on 
among  friends  or  foes  as  occasion  requires,  receipts  being 
given  as  a  ground  for  future  payment;  only  in  the  present 
instance  the  necessity  of  many  millions  requires  it  instead 


64  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

of  that  of  an  army  only.     It  is  urgently  required  also  in 
the  interests  of  peace  and  order. 

One  word  on  the  term  ''precedent."  As  used  technically 
by  lawyers,  precedent  means  the  decision  of  a  court  of  last 
resort  upon  a  point  of  law  in  litigation,  and  this  is  consid- 
ered binding  upon  all  those  who  subsequently  have  a  similar 
point  of  law  at  issue. 

This  rule  of  precedents  has  been  carried  so  far  in  the 
United  States  as  to  cause  the  law  courts  to  usurp  the  leg- 
islative and  executive  functions  to  an  extent  almost  unheard 
of  in  any  other  age  or  country. 

The  court  decides  a  case,  and  the  rule  laid  down  in  that 
case  becomes  a  law  without  the  intervention  of  the  legis- 
lative department.  The  court  then  passes  upon  the  appli- 
cability of  this  decision  to  other  cases,  and  then  by  its 
mandamus  or  injunction  enforces  obedience  to  its  decrees. 
Thus  becoming  executive  also  in  its  functions. 

The  executive  must  rise  above  such  usurpations  of  the 
judiciary  and  use  its  own  brains  and  conscience,  at  least  in 
cases  of  public  emergency  like  the  present,  or  some  one 
else  will,  for  coal  must  and  will  be  provided.  How  soon  and 
with  how  little  bloodshed  and  disorder  now  rests  with  the 
executive,  who  must  act  now,  or  admit  his  utter  incapacity 
and  miserable  failure. 

Prompt,  decisive  and  just  action  now  will  enable  the 
executive  to  make  a  great  record  and  do  an  amount  of  good 
beyond  all  calculation  and  prevent  injustice  and  harm  be- 
yond computation. 

If  our  earnest  and  energetic  president  has  within  him  the 
elements  of  true  greatness,  now  is  his  opportunity  to  exer- 
cise them.  A  great  man  leads,  and  does  it  in  such  a  way  as 
to  secure  the  support  and  the  approval  of  all  right-minded 
men.  A  weak  or  mediocre  man  follows  and  is  unable  to 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE   GREAT    REPUBLIC  65 

rise  above  his  surroundings.  Such  a  one  in  a  time  of  public 
crisis  goes  down  before  difficulties  which  the  great  man  sur- 
mounts, and  which  manifest  his  greatness. 

The  amazing  part  of  the  situation  is  that  anyone  should  be 
surprised  at  it  or  taken  unawares  by  it.  When  the  mut- 
terings  of  thunder  grow  nearer  and  louder  and  the  wind 
rises  in  fitful  angry  gusts  and  the  black  clouds  gather,  any- 
one not  bereft  of  both  sight  and  hearing  should  know  that 
a  storm  is  approaching.  The  premonitory  symptoms  of  the 
present  troubles  have  been  developing  for  years  past,  and  the 
present  coal  strike  is  only  an  incident  of  an  existing  condi- 
tion, and  unless  Theodore  Roosevelt  shows  that  he  is  both 
willing  and  able  to  cope  with  the  situation  and  meet  the 
conditions  which  give  rise  to  it,  instead  of  going  down  be- 
fore it,  the  troubles  which  now  confront  him  will  have  be- 
come so  very  much  worse  before  the  expiration  of  his  term 
of  office  that  the  present  strike  will  seem,  by  comparison, 
like  mere  child's  play. 

If  Lief  Errickson,  Christopher  Columbus,  Marquette, 
Daniel  Boone  and  other  explorers  and  pioneers  had  waited 
for  others  to  furnish  them  with  charts  or  "precedents" 
they  would  never  have  been  heard  of  as  leaders  among  men. 
President  Roosevelt  will  have  to  blaze  out  his  own  trail  or 
admit  failure.  We  are  inclined  to  believe  that  he  is  ca- 
pable of  doing  so  and  leading  the  way  to  success. 

What  the  nation  demands  now  is  not  the  present  settle- 
ment of  the  differences  between  the  miners  and  the  oper- 
ators, but  an  immediate  supply  of  coal. 

If  a  lot  of  mischievous  or  quarrelsome  children  blockade 
a  highway  the  travelers  who  have  to  use  it  will  quickly 
clear  away  the  impediments  including  the  children,  if  neces- 
sary, without  wasting  any  time  listening  to  statements  as 
to  who  caused  the  trouble.  There  will  be  time  enough 


66  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

for  that  afterwards.  The  prime  necessity  is  to  have  the 
road  open  at  once. 

In  the  present  instance  the  course  should  be  precisely 
the  same,  and  no  one  should  be  overawed  by  the  fact  that 
railroads  and  mines  are  involved  instead  of  the  playthings 
of  children,  for  this  makes  the  need  of  immediate  action  all 
the  more  urgent. 

Under  the  circumstances  it  will  be  more  reasonable,  less 
expensive  and  more  businesslike  to  employ  the  miners  now 
on  the  ground,  at  almost  any  price  and  terms,  than  to  drive 
them  and  their  wives  and  children  away  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet  and  then  import  others. 

To  get  out  the  coal  at  once  is  the  prime  necessity.  The 
arrangement  of  details  for  the  settlement  of  the  disputes 
between  the  miners  and  operators  can  be  attended  to  at  any 
time  in  the  future,  as  far  as  the  public  is  concerned. 

Mr.  President,  this  is  your  opportunity.  Can  you  and 
will  you  rise  to  the  situation  ?  The  nation  awaits  the  result, 
but  it  is  not  likely  to  wait  long. 

PREVENTION  OF  STRIKES. 
Principles  Involved. 

Written  at  the  Time  of  the  Teamsters  Strike  in  Chicago. 

The  industrial  conditions  in  the  United  States  are  at- 
tracting attention  and  causing  some  alarm  at  present  be- 
cause the  subterranean  fires  have  found  a  vent  in  Chicago, 
and  to  a  less  extent  in  New  York  and  other  large  centers 
of  population,  and  the  present  outburst  of  passion  and  vio- 
lence is  commonly  referred  to  as  involving  complicated  prob- 
lems, although  it  would  be  more  correct  to  say  that  the  ideas 
of  those  who  so  express  themselves  are  in  a  state  of  confusion 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  67 

on  the  subject,  for  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  complicated 
problem,  for  every  problem  is  in  itself  simple,  and  may  be 
clearly  understood,  when  once  we  grasp  the  principles  in- 
volved. 

The  present  strike  situation  involves  but  few  principles, 
all  of  which  may  be  readily  and  promptly  applied. 

First,  and  most  important  of  all,  is  justice,  or,  as  the  most 
popular  president  of  our  country  has  expressed  it,  "A 
square  deal." 

This  at  once  brings  us  to  a  consideration  of  the  relations 
between  the  parties  engaged  in  the  present  conflict.  Either 
they  are  bound  by  contracts,  or  they  are  not. 

A  contract  is  a  mutual  agreement,  voluntarily  entered 
into  between  two  or  more  competent  persons,  for  a  valid 
consideration,  whereby  they  promise  to  carry  out  some 
lawful  undertaking. 

If  any  one  of  these  conditions  is  lacking  the  contract  is 
either  void  or  positively  criminal;  in  either  case  it  is  not 
binding. 

If,  through  stress  of  circumstances,  a  workman  enters 
into  an  agreement  which  is  one-sided  or  unfair,  he  is  not 
bound  by  it,  for  where  duress  of  any  kind  exists,  the  con- 
tract is  void,  or  at  least  voidable,  by  the  party  acting  under 
constraint.  An  inadequate  rate  of  compensation,  or  any 
other  unfair  or  unreasonable  condition  destroys  the  binding 
effect  of  the  contract. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  an  employer  is  compelled  by  intimi- 
dation, or  any  other  coercion,  to  enter  unwillingly  into  a 
contract,  it  ceases  to  be  voluntary,  and  he  is  not  bound 
by  it. 

What  is  a  proper  consideration  in  a  contract,  and  what 
conditions  are  fair  and  reasonable,  are  questions  for  adjust- 
ment in  each  case,  and  under  ancient  laws  of  a  number  of 


68 

the  nations  of  continental  Europe,  as  well  as  in  England, 
ample  protection  was  afforded  to  both  employers  and  work- 
men. Among  other  wise  laws,  one  provided  that  at  the  be- 
ginning of  each  year  the  rate  of  wages  must  be  definitely 
established  for  the  ensuing  year.  Thus  there  was  an  entire 
year  in  which  to  consider  what  was  to  be  the  rate  of  wages 
for  the  following  year,  and  if,  by  the  first  of  the  year,  the 
employers  and  workmen  had  not  come  to  a  definite  agree- 
ment, then  a  magistrate  was  required  to  take  testimony  as 
to  what  the  rate  of  wages,  hours  of  work,  etc.,  should  be, 
after  which  he  fixed  the  rate  of  wages  for  the  new  year, 
and  his  ruling  had  the  force  of  law  and  was  binding  upon 
all  parties  concerned  under  pain  of  criminal  prosecution. 

By  this  means  the  principal  causes  of  misunderstandings 
and  strikes  were  entirely  eliminated. 

The  laws  covering  apprenticeships  provided  that  before 
anyone  could  engage  in  skilled  labor  he  must  go  through  a 
regular  apprenticeship  by  which  he  became  a  competent 
workman,  and  in  this  way  incompetent  workmen  were  kept 
out  of  competition  with  those  who  had  regularly  learned 
their  trades.  This  applied  to  nearly  all  occupations,  includ- 
ing the  learned  professions. 

As  practically  all  skilled  workmen  and  professional  men 
belonged  to  guilds,  or  unions  as  we  now  call  them,  and  all 
were  pledged  to  accept  no  apprentices  who  did  not  join  the 
guild,  practically  all  members  of  every  craft,  employers, 
workmen  and  appretices,  belonged  to  the  same  guilds  or 
unions,  and  at  their  meetings  most  matters  were  settled  as 
all  were  in  constant  touch  with  one  another.  Yet,  as  above 
stated,  when  they  could  not  agree,  a  magistrate  summarily 
settled  the  dispute  after  taking  testimony  in  the  premises, 
and  once  rates  of  wages,  etc.,  were  settled,  either  by  agree- 
ment between  the  parties,  or  after  their  failure  to  agree,  by 


69 

the  decree  of  a  magistrate,  no  interference  was  permitted, 
and  any  attempt  to  interfere  was  promptly  met  by  criminal 
prosecution  and  punishment. 

In  a  word,  the  so-called  "difficult  problems"  that  we  are 
now  so  unsuccessfully  dealing  with,  with  the  resulting  dis- 
turbance of  business  and  industrial  conditions,  and  the  bit- 
terness, disorders  and  loss  of  life  that  follow  in  their  trail, 
were  solved  in  a  number  of  European  countries  hundreds 
of  years  ago,  after  a  thousand  years  of  experience  of  the 
requirements  in  such  cases. 

With  us,  little  or  no  legislation  is  needed,  and  the  tedious 
methods  prevailing  in  our  courts,  with  the  long  delays  and 
never-ending  appeals,  are  utterly  inadequate  to  deal  with 
such  a  situation  as  now  exists  in  Chicago. 

In  the  first  instance,  at  least,  the  executive,  and  the 
executive  alone,  must  deal  with  the  catastrophe,  and  at  the 
very  outset  it  should  be  dealt  with  promptly  and  effec- 
tively, for  an  unsuccessful  attempt,  or  an  attempt  only  par- 
tially successful,  may  do  more  harm  than  to  let  it  run  its 
course. 

First  of  all.  order  should  be  restored  with  a  superabun- 
dance of  force  and  without  delay.  Unless  it  is  morally 
certain  that  the  force  under  the  chief  of  police  and  the 
sheriff  are  abundantly  adequate  to  preserve  order  from  the 
very  first,  the  state  troops,  and  if  necessary,  the  federal 
troops  also,  should  be  called  in  at  once,  before,  and  not 
after,  the  situation  has  got  beyond  control. 

Better  order  all  business  suspended  for  a  day  or  two  and 
require  all  citizens  to  remain  at  their  homes  than  to  have 
one  human  life  lost  or  one  child  maimed  by  the  violence 
of  a  mob. 

When  order  and  quiet  have  been  restored,  by  whatever 
means  are  requisite,  by  declaring  martial  law  if  need  be, 


70  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

then  summarily  ascertain  the  causes  of  the  trouble  and  take 
prompt  steps  to  apply  the  remedy  by  compelling  fair  treat- 
ment, "A  square  deal"  between  the  parties,  or  hold  abso- 
lutely in  check  and  under  control  of  the  police  or  military, 
or  both  if  necessary,  any  and  all  parties  who  refuse  to  ac- 
cede to  reasonable  and  just  demands  made  by  the  executive. 

There  are  those  who  will  say,  how  arbitrary,  where  is 
the  authority  in  law  for  such  a  course? 

It  will  hardly  be  denied  that  the  words  law  and  justice 
should  be  synonymous.  It  therefore  follows  that  what  is 
just  is  lawful.  Moreover,  it  must  be  admitted  that  in  great 
emergencies,  especially  where  they  are  sudden  and  unfore- 
seen, there  is  no  time  to  look  for  statutes  covering  the  pre- 
cise case,  even  if  such  were  believed  to  exist,  and  that 
when  the  emergency  has  arisen  it  is  generally  too  late  to 
enact  laws  covering  the  case.  These  are  the  occasions 
which  put  an  executive  officer  to  the  test,  and  prompt,  just, 
effective  action  at  such  times  amounts  to  more  than  the 
successful  management  of  years  of  merely  routine  public 
business. 

When  a  ship  at  sea  takes  fire,  is  caught  in  a  hurricane,  or 
runs  into  a  collision  in  a  fog  and  the  lives  of  passengers 
and  crew  are  suddenly  brought  into  imminent  danger,  there 
is  not  an  instant  to  be  lost  in  considering  the  views,  the 
wishes  or  even  the  present  comfort  of  the  passengers  or 
crew,  but  immediate  action  must  be  taken  to  save  the  lives 
of  all,  or  as  many  as  possible,  of  those  on  board.  A  man  who 
through  ignorance,  obstinacy  or  mistaken  zeal  interferes 
with  the  handling  of  a  hawser  or  a  pump,  or  the  lowering  of 
a  lifeboat  must  be  quickly  knocked  down  or  bound  for  the 
common  safety  of  all,  himself  included,  and  it  might  be 
necessary  to  treat  a  hysterical  woman  in  like  manner. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  71 

Likewise  when  the  ship  of  state  encounters  a  storm  and 
the  waves  of  disorder  sweep  her  decks  and  she  comes  into 
collision  with  the  angry  passions  of  contending  factions 
and  is  in  danger  of  being  blown  upon  the  rocks  of  lawless- 
ness and  shipwrecked  by  a  hurricane  of  violence,  the  captain, 
the  responsible  executive,  whether  federal,  state  or  muni- 
cipal, must  take  matters  in  hand  immediately  and  control  the 
situation  or  go  down  with  the  wreck. 

When  the  danger  has  passed  and  the  responsible  executive 
must  account  for  the  manner  in  which  he  outrode  the  storm, 
the  one  test  by  which  he  must  stand  or  fall  will  be,  was  his 
conduct  just?  If  so  he  will  have  the  support  of  all  good 
citizens  and  will  be  secure  in  their  confidence  with  greatly 
increased  power  for  good. 

The  Labor  Problem  Solved. 

For  a  number  of  years  past  there  has  been  filed  away  un- 
used in  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  at  Washing- 
ton a  complete  remedy  for  strikes  and  industrial  disturb- 
ances which  has  abolished  them  in  several  European 
countries. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  in  the  month  of  December,  A. 
D.  1909,  the  number  of  men  on  strike  and  out  of  work  was 
equal  to  the  total  force  opposed  to  the  Union  during  the 
Civil  War  in  the  sixties  of  the  last  century.  This  fact  is 
most  suggestive  of  a  total  want  of  any  economic  system  in 
the  United  States,  for  there  are  still  many  millions  of  acres 
of  idle  land  in  this  country  awaiting  the  husbandman  to 
make  them  productive,  and  thousands  of  towns,  villages  and 
farms  where  workmen  are  much  needed,  but  for  lack  of  any 
system  for  bringing  those  in  need  of  workmen  into  touch 
with  those  in  want  of  work  there  are  always  many  idle 


72  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

workmen  and  many  employers  without  the  workmen  that 
they  require,  although  this  entire  industrial  problem  can  be 
solved  at  any  time  by  means  so  simple  and  effective  that 
never  again  would  it  be  necessary  for  the  employers  to  be 
without  the  men  they  need  nor  for  workmen  to  be  idle,  and 
the  writer  states  without  the  least  fear  of  successful  con- 
tradiction, that  never  in  the  history  of  this  country  has  there 
been  a  time  when  there  was  not  plenty  of  work  for  all  who 
needed  it  if  only  there  had  been  an  intelligent  system  for 
bringing  employers  and  workmen  together. 

Many  years  ago,  as  a  result  of  the  means  employed  in 
some  of  the  countries  of  Europe,  notably  in  Bavaria,  Hol- 
land and  more  recently  in  Belgium  during  the  reign  of  the 
late  King  Leopold,  who  was  one  of  the  greatest  statesmen 
and  financiers  who  ever  lived,  and  who,  with  the  possible  ex- 
ception of  Louis  Napoleon,  did  more  for  the  civilizing 
and  advancement  of  the  human  family  than  any  ruler  of 
modern  times  in  spite  of  the  contemptible  slanders  spread 
by  those  who  wished  to  steal  the  Congo  from  him. 

The  method  consists  merely  of  a  system  by  which  free  em- 
ployment bureaus,  all  in  constant  touch  with  one  another,  are 
to  be  maintained  all  over  the  country,  not  only  without  any 
ultimate  expense,  but  at  a  great  saving  to  every  community 
in  which  they  are  conducted,  for  the  most  expensive  and 
dangerous  element  in  any  community  is  a  lot  of  idle  work- 
men, for  idleness  always  tends  to  discontent  and  furnishes 
recruits  to  the  criminal  element. 

The  trouble  with  us  is  that  there  is  no  possibility  of  apply- 
ing any  effectual  remedy  to  the  constantly  recurring  in- 
dustrial disturbances  in  the  country  because  there  is  no  one 
who  knows  the  actual  conditions  existing  at  such  times  ex- 
cepting in  the  vaguest  and  most  general  manner.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  today  there  is  not  a  man  or  any  number 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  73 

of  men  in  the  country  who  can  give,  even  approximately, 
the  number  of  idle  bricklayers,  carpenters  or  blacksmiths 
in  the  country  with  their  locations,  nor  any  one  who  can 
definitely  state  just  how  many  bricklayers,  carpenters  and 
blacksmiths  are  needed  at  present,  with  the  addresses  of 
those  who  need  them. 

Before  a  physician  can  deal  intelligently  with  an  ailment 
he  must  first  know  the  nature,  location  and  extent  of  the 
malady.  The  same  is  true  of  an  industrial  problem;  until 
the  facts  involved  are  fully  known  it  is  useless  to  attempt 
to  apply  a  remedy. 

By  having  books  provided  in  every  city  and  village  in  the 
country  with  a  population  of  not  less  than  500,  in  which  all 
those  in  need  of  work  of  any  kind  whatever  may  have  their 
names  and  addresses  entered,  and  in  which  all  those  in 
need  of  workmen  of  any  kind  may  also  have  their  applica- 
tions for  workmen  entered,  the  foundation  for  applying  a 
full  and  final  remedy  to  all  future  industrial  disturbances 
is  securely  laid. 

These  record  books  must  be  so  prepared  as  to  show  at  a 
glance  at  the  end  of  each  week  just  how  many  workmen 
have  applied  for  work  in  each  line  of  work,  and  how  many 
employers  have  applied  for  workmen  for  any  kind  of  em- 
ployment. 

These  books  must  also  be  so  prepared  that  at  the  end  of 
each  week  by  merely  tearing  off  a  slip  the  complete  report 
for  the  week  will  be  ready  to  mail  to  the  county  seat 
leaving  but  little  or  no  chance  for  errors  by  the  one  in  charge 
of  the  records,  who  in  the  smaller  towns  and  villages  might 
be  the  postmaster,  who  might  be  allowed  a  small  additional 
compensation  for  his  services  although  the  time  and  labor 
required  to  properly  keep  these  records  in  the  smaller  places 


74  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

would  be  but  very  little  indeed  with  properly  prepared  books 
and  blanks  for  the  reports. 

Each  week,  as  they  are  received  at  the  county  seat,  they 
would  be  put  together  in  alphabetical  order  for  the  county 
and  by  the  use  of  an  adding  machine  any  bright  boy  or  girl 
could  make  up  the  totals  for  the  county  of  all  the  applica- 
tions for  either  employment  or  for  workmen  in  the  county. 

By  then  forwarding  the  county  report  to  the  state  com- 
missioner of  labor  or  other  state  official,  almost  without 
labor,  the  totals  for  the  entire  state  would  be  made  by 
counties,  and  for  the  state  as  a  whole  in  every  line  of  occupa- 
tion, showing,  for  instance,  at  a  glance  just  how  many  car- 
penters, bricklayers  and  blacksmiths,  etc.,  had  applied  for 
work  in  the  entire  state  during  the  week,  showing  also  how 
many  applications  for  work  or  workmen  had  been  made  in 
each  line  of  work  in  each  county,  and  also  at  each  place 
where  there  was  an  office.  Thus  at  a  glance  one  could  see 
just  how  many  workmen  of  any  line  of  work  were  wanted, 
and  how  many  had  applied  for  work,  not  only  in  the  state  as 
a  whole,  but  in  each  county  and  village  with  a  population 
of  over  500. 

This  would  comprise  a  complete  weekly  balance  sheet 
showing  the  exact  condition  of  the  labor  market,  not  only  in 
the  state  as  a  whole,  but  in  detail  in  every  part  of  it,  and 
if  this  work  were  attended  to,  for  the  county  reports,  by  the 
boards  of  control  or  other  officials  whose  duty  it  is  to  check 
vagrancy  by  improving  the  existing  industrial  conditions, 
it  would  provide  an  outlet  for  the  unemployed  which  would 
effect  a  saving  in  the  congested  districts  far  greater  than 
the  slight  cost  of  keeping  up  the  records  and  reports. 

Each  week,  as  the  weekly  report  was  completed,  on  blanks 
kept  in  stock  for  that  purpose,  the  entire  report  would  be 
printed  as  a  state  Labor  Bulletin  and  copies  of  it  sent  to 
every  office  from  which  a  report  had  been  received,  there 


DOWNFALL    OP   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  75 

to  remain  for  the  inspection  of  every  workman  or  employer 
who  had  occasion  to  use  it. 

By  these  means,  so  simple  and  costing  far  less  than  the 
disconnected  and  incomplete  efforts  now  being  made  to  im- 
prove the  industrial  conditions  of  the  country,  employers 
and  employees  could  at  all  times  come  into  touch  with  each 
other  without  expense  and  with  none  of  the  loss  of  time  and 
uncertainty  which  now  causes  endless  expense  and  untold 
losses  to  the  country,  and  has  precipitated  so  many  in- 
dustrial strikes,  and  upset  both  the  commerce  and  labor  of 
the  country. 

By  having  this  matter  taken  in  hand  by  the  General  Gov- 
ernment and  causing  a  copy  of  each  weekly  state  report  to 
be  sent  to  Washington,  the  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor  would  be  in  control  of  all  the  information,  besides  the 
means  ready  at  hand,  to  forever  put  an  end  to  all  strikes 
and  future  labor  disturbances  as  has  been  successfully  done 
in  several  European  countries  by  having  this  information, 
and  the  means  of  always  keeping  the  supply  and  demand  for 
labor  in  touch. 

The  General  Government  by  publishing  the  combined  re- 
ports from  the  Labor  Bulletins  of  the  various  states  com- 
piled into  a  National  Industrial  Gazette  and  sending  copies 
to  each  state  in  sufficient  numbers  to  be  filed  for  reference 
in  each  office  from  which  reports  were  received,  there 
would  be  available  in  every  part  of  the  United  States  a 
complete  weekly  balance  sheet  showing  the  condition  of  the 
labor  market  with  full  information  as  to  the  supply  and  de- 
mand for  labor  in  every  part  of  the  country  in  detail,  and 
also  the  condition  of  the  labor  market  in  every  line  of  em- 
ployment for  the  entire  country  as  a  whole. 

In  the  cities  it  will  usually  be  found  that  there  are  more 
workmen  than  there  is  work  to  be  done,  while  in  the 


76  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

smaller  towns  and  rural  districts  there  is  almost  always  a 
scarcity  of  labor  and  men  are  badly  needed  for  the  work 
to  be  done. 

The  supply  and  demand  for  labor  everywhere  being 
known  to  all  interested  parties,  it  would  naturally  find  its 
own  level  as  surely  as  water  does,  and  so  the  cause  of  the 
trouble,  both  general  and  local,  being  known  to  everyone, 
each  could  easily  adapt  himself  to  existing  conditions,  and 
so  the  nature,  location  and  extent  of  the  evil  being  defi- 
nitely known,  and  the  remedy  at  hand,  the  cause  of  all  labor 
troubles  would  be  removed  and  the  remedy  would  be  auto- 
matically applied,  for  men  would  never  waste  time  on 
strike  when  they  knew  where  plenty  of  other  work  was 
to  be  had,  and  so  the  causes  of  strikes,  and  the  strikes 
themselves,  would  be  things  of  the  past  as  they  are  in 
those  countries  where  this  system  is  employed. 

Many  years  ago  the  writer  laid  this  matter  before  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  by  whom  it 
was  fully  endorsed  and  much  favorable  comment  was  made 
upon  it  by  the  press  at  the  time  it  was  first  made  public  by 
the  writer,  who  then  laid  it  before  the  Trades  and  Labor 
Assembly  of  St.  Paul,  Minnesota  who  also  endorsed  it  and 
requested  the  writer  to  place  it  before  the  council  of  the 
State  Federation  of  Labor  of  Minnesota,  which  he  did  and 
they  also  endorsed  it  and  requested  the  writer  to  prepare 
an  act  for  presentation  to  the  state  legislature,  then  about 
to  convene.  This  was  done,  but  the  man  supposed  to  rep- 
resent the  labor  and  industrial  interests  in  the  legislature 
appeared  to  feel  not  the  slightest  interest  in  it  and  it  was 
never  even  introduced  into  the  legislature. 

Some  years  later,  through  the  kindness  of  U.  S.  Senator 
Clapp  of  Minnesota,  the  writer  obtained  full  reports  upon 
all  attempts  at  reducing  the  industrial  conditions  of  the 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  77 

country  to  a  tangible  system,  and  although  they  were 
very  fragmentray  and  disconnected,  it  was  evident  that 
the  necessity  for  something  of  the  kind  was  felt  in  every 
state  of  the  Union. 

Through  Senator  Clapp  the  writer  then  laid  the  matter 
formally  before  the  then  Secretary  of  Labor  and  Commerce 
and  received  a  short  note  from  a  clerk  in  the  Department 
saying  that  the  papers  in  the  matter  had  been  filed  away 
where  they  have  no  doubt  slept  the  sleep  of  the  just  ever 
since.  The  principles  there  laid  down  and  elucidated  in 
detail,  showing  the  methods  by  which  some  of  the  nations 
of  Europe  have  met  and  solved  the  labor  troubles  which 
cause  untold  losses  in  this  country  almost  every  year,  if  ap- 
plied by  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  would 
have  prevented  every  strike  and  labor  trouble  that  has 
occurred  in  this  country  since  then  with  the  enormous 
losses  which  have  resulted  from  them. 

The  prevention  of  the  smallest  of  the  strikes  that  has 
taken  place  since  the  papers  in  this  case  were  buried  in 
the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  at  Washington 
would  have  saved  the  country  many  times  the  cost  of  keep- 
ing up  the  reports  and  bulletins  and  the  National  Industri- 
al Gazette  ever  since  they  were  filed  away,  and  the  losses 
from  all  the  industrial  troubles  that  have  occurred  since 
then,  and  which  could  have  been  prevented  by  this  simple 
and  effective  means,  would  probably  have  more  than  paid 
for  the  Panama  canal. 

Right  to  Hold  Meetings. 

When  the  English  barons  had  beaten  King  John  at  the 
battle  of  Runymeade  and  broken  his  despotic  power  they 
compelled  him  to  grant  them  a  bill  of  rights  known  by  the 


78  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

name  of  Magna  Charta  which  has  always  been  considered 
the  "The  paladium  of  our  liberties,"  and  one  of  the  rights 
which  they  required  him  to  guarantee  them  was  the  right 
to  assemble  peaceably  to  discuss  their  grievances.  This 
right  was  handed  down  to  the  American  colonies  and  has 
always  been  held  as  one  of  the  dearest  rights  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  yet  again  and  again  it  has  been  dis- 
regarded, especially  at  times  of  strikes  and  other  industrial 
disturbances,  and  there  is  at  least  one  case  on  record  when 
a  number  of  unarmed  men  on  their  way  to  a  meeting  were 
shot  down  by  a  party  of  deputy  sheriffs. 

Some  years  ago,  within  the  memory  of  many  persons, 
the  so-called  Coxey  army  went  entirely  across  the  country 
from  the  Pacific  coast  to  Washington,  D.  C.,  headed  by  Mr. 
Coxey,  who  was  a  man  of  means  and  standing  in  the 
country,  for  the  purpose  of  calling  attention  to  the  large 
number  of  idle  workmen  in  the  country,  and  to  present  a 
petition  to  the  federal  authorities  at  Washington,  asking 
to  have  bonds  issued  to  provide  work  upon  the  public 
highways  just  as  had  been  done  in  1831  under  similar  con- 
ditions when  the  National  Road  from  the  Atlantic  coast 
to  the  Mississippi  river  was  built  to  give  employment  to 
idle  workmen. 

When  the  Coxey  Army  reached  Washington  Mr.  Coxey 
was  arrested  for  stepping  on  the  grass  on  the  capitol 
grounds  and  the  petition  which  so  many  idle  men  had  come 
so  far  to  present  received  no  attention  whatever  and  no 
opportunity  was  even  given  to  present  it,  although  it  was 
one  of  the  most  important  and  one  of  the  most  opportune 
ever  taken  to  Washington. 

The  gathering  of  a  lynching  party  or  an  armed  and  dis- 
orderly mob  for  the  evident  and  express  purpose  of  doing 
violence  is  entirely  a  different  matter,  and  every  wise 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  79 

government,  not  only  does  nothing  to  hinder  peaceful 
gatherings  for  the  discussion  of  grievances  but  encourages 
them  in  every  way  as  an  essential  safety  valve  for  popular 
feelings  and  to  attempt  to  prevent  this  free  expression  of 
public  sentiment  is  a  most  dangerous  thing  almost  sure  to 
result  in  a  frightful  explosion,  and  it  is  as  hopeless  as  try- 
ing to  hold  back  the  waters  of  a  running  stream  with  a 
dam,  for  no  engineer  ever  did  or  ever  will  live  who  can  do 
this  with  even  the  smallest  running  stream.  He  may  raise 
the  water  to  a  certain  level,  and  he  must  then  provide  an 
outlet  for  all  surplus  water,  and  if  he  fails  to  do  this  the 
dam  will  certainly  give  way  sooner  or  later,  and  the  higher 
the  dam  the  greater  will  be  the  disaster  when  it  breaks, 
just  as  was  the  case  when  the  great  Ogamah  dam  in  Penn- 
sylvania broke  and  drowned  a  large  part  of  the  population 
of  Johnstown. 

All  through  the  history  of  ancient  Rome,  both  during 
the  republic  and  empire,  every  city  had  its  forum  where 
everybody  had  a  right  to  go  and  talk  himself  hoarse  if  he 
wished  to,  and  a  place  without  a  forum  was  scarcely  con- 
sidered to  be  a  city  at  all. 

A  great  value  of  such  places  as  the  Roman  forum  is  that 
they  enable  the  government  to  keep  in  touch  with  public 
feelings  upon  all  matters  of  general  interest,  and  woe  to 
the  government  that  does  not  do  this,  for  a  government 
cannot  exist  without  the  support  of  the  mass  of  the  people. 

This  was  once  well  illustrated  at  the  court  of  Philip  the 
second  of  Spain  who  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  mon- 
archs  Avho  ever  lived,  as  his  empire  included  most  of 
Europe  and  all  of  North  and  South  America  then  known. 
One  day  his  court  jester  asked  him,  "If  your  majesty 
should  give  a  command  and  all  your  subjects  should  say 
no,  what  would  you  do?"  For  it  plainly  showed  to  this 


80  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

great  ruler  that  he  could  do  nothing  without  the  consent  of 
those  who  are  ruled. 

In  1891  in  the  city  of  London,  England,  the  writer  was 
an  eye  witness  of  a  1st  of  May  procession  of  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  million  of  workmen  on  their  way  to  a  great 
meeting  in  Hyde  park  where  they  were  addressed  by  John 
Burns  and  other  labor  leaders.  Hour  after  hour  they 
marched  along  the  Thames  Embankment  in  ranks  which 
swept  the  curb  stones  on  both  sides  of  this  great  thorough- 
fare, and  the  authorities  instead  of  making  the  dangerous 
attempt  to  interfere  with  their  meeting,  on  the  contrary 
caused  a  squad  of  police  to  march  at  the  head  of  every  di- 
vision. The  consequence  was  that  this  great  gathering 
which  might  easily  have  been  the  cause  of  most  serious 
rioting,  passed  off  with  perfect  order  and  good  feeling. 


.    DOWNFALL    OP   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  81 

CHAPTER  V. 
AMERICAN  WAGES  ALWAYS  FALLING. 

Lower  Than  Those  of  the  Chinaman  or  Any  Other  For- 
eign Workman. 

Wages  of  American  workmen  upon  a  continually  descend- 
ing scale  ever  since  the  foundation  of  the  republic. 

Employers   Never   Pay  Wages   of  Industrial  Workmen. 

Some  time  ago,  when  writing  upon  the  causes  of  the 
great  strike  in  the  anthracite  coal  regions  and  the  means 
by  which  a  recurrence  of  anything  of  the  kind  could  be 
forever  prevented  without  injustice  to  anyone,  I  promised 
to  prove,  from  government  official  reports,  that  the  wages 
of  American  workmen  in  some  lines  of  work  were  lower 
than  the  wages  of  workmen  of  any  other  nation. 

In  order  to  treat  this  subject  intelligently  it  is  necessary 
first  to  consider  what  constitutes  the  difference  between 
high  wages  and  low  wages. 

It  will  hardly  be  denied  that  the  mere  amount  paid  as 
wages  will  have  but  little  bearing  upon  the  question  as  to 
whether  the  wages  are  high  or  low,  as  many  other  consider- 
ations besides  the  amount  paid  enter  into  the  subject,  and 
determine  the  sufficiency  or  insufficiency  of  the  compensa- 
tion paid  as  wages.  For  instance,  in  a  mining  district 
where  the  regular  price  of  board  is  $10  per  week,  $5  a 
week  as  wages  constitutes  very  much  lower  wages  than 
the  same  amount  of  pay  in  a  place  where  equally  good 
board  can  be  had  for  $3  a  week.  Again,  the  elements  of 
danger  or  discomfort  attending  the  work  have  much  to  do 
in  determining  the  sufficiency  of  the  wages.  Thus  $20  a 


82  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

day  for  a  submarine  diver  may  not  be  at  all  out  of  propor- 
tion as  compared  with  $1.50  a  day  in  the  same  vicinity 
for  ordinary  day  labor.  The  writer  knew  of  a  man  who 
was  engaged  as  a  miner  in  Alaska  at  $18  a  day,  but  who 
gave  up  his  job  after  ten  days,  and  when  asked  why  he  did 
so  said  that  he  could  not  afford  to  work  for  those  wages 
both  because  of  the  very  high  price  of  living  and  of  the 
terrible  exposure  to  which  he  was  subjected. 

One  of  the  most  important  elements  in  computing  the 
value  of  labor  and  the  sufficiency  of  the  wages  paid,  and  one 
which  is  most  frequently  disregarded,  is  the  proportion 
between  the  work  actually  delivered,  the  value  produced 
by  the  workman,  and  the  amount  of  his  compensation. 
In  reality  this  is  the  most  important  consideration  in  de- 
termining whether  the  wages  paid  are  high  or  low,  and  in 
fulfilment  of  my  promise  I  will  submit  the  question  to  this 
test  and  show  that  in  the  line  of  work  selected,  as  report- 
ed in  a  government  publication,  the  American  receives 
lower  wages  than  the  Chinaman  in  his  own  country  or 
than  any  other  workman  mentioned  in  the  report. 

In  Farmers'  Bulletin  No.  110,  issued  by  the  U.  S.  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  on  page  19  the  following  table  is 
given : 

Number  of  acres  one  man  can  farm  in  rice,  with  wages 
in  different  countries. 

Farm  wages 
in  gold  per 
Countries.  Acres.        year,  with  board. 

Japan     %  $10  to     $18 

China    %  to     2y2  8  to       12 

Philippines     2y2  15  to       20 

India    3  10  to       20 

Siam  3  10  to       20 

Egypt   4  15  to       30 

Italy   5  40  to       60 

Spain    5  40  to       60 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE   GREAT    REPUBLIC  83 

Farm  wages 
in  gold  per 

Acres.        year,  with  board. 
United  States — 

Carolinas  (old  method) 8  $96  to  $120 

Mississippi  delta  (old  method) 10  120  to     144 

Southwestern    Louisiana    and    Texas 

(new   method)    80  180  to     216 

From  the  foregoing  figures  it  will  readily  be  seen  that 
among  the  foreigners  the  Chinaman  receives  the  smallest 
amount  of  money  and  that  the  Italian  and  Spaniard  get  the 
largest  amount  of  money  per  acre  cultivated. 

The  Chinaman  cultivates  a  maximum  of  2%  acres  of  rice 
and  gets  from  $8  to  $10  a  year  as  wages,  while  in  Louisiana 
and  Texas  the  American  cultivates  a  maximum  of  80  acres 
for  which  he  receives  from  $180  to  $216  a  year.  In  both 
cases  the  board  is  provided  so  that  we  need  not  take  that 
into  consideration.  The  American  as  a  maximum  culti- 
vates 80  acres  of  rice  which  is  32  times  as  many  as  the 
Chinaman  has  to  cultivate  as  a  maximum,  while  the  Ameri- 
can as  a  maximum  receives  only  18  times  the  pay  that  the 
Chinaman  receives.  In  proportion  to  the  number  of  acres 
that  he  cultivates  the  American  receives  but  little  more 
than  half  of  what  the  Chinaman  receives.  The  American 
cultivates  160  times  as  many  acres  as  the  Japanese  but  gets 
only  12  times  his  pay,  two-fifths  of  what  the  Japanese 
receives  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  acres  cultivated. 
To  get  the  same  proportion  of  pay  for  the  number  of  acres 
cultivated  the  American  should  have  $384  instead  of  $216 
to  be  equal  to  the  chinaman  and  $2,880  to  be  on  an  equal 
footing  with  his  Japanese  brother. 

To  give  the  ratio  of  wages  as  shown  by  the  official  re- 
port contained  in  the  bulletin  would  show  the  following 
comparison : 


84 


STARTLING   STATEMENTS 


Japanese receives  at  the  rate  of  $36.00 


Chinaman 

Philipino    

East   Indian    

Siamese    

Egyptian    

Italian     

Spaniard 

American  Carolinas  (old  methods).... 

Mississippi  delta   (old  methods) 

Louisiana  and  Texas  (modern  methods) 


4.80 

8.00 

6.67 

6.67 

7.50 

12.00 

12.00 

14.00 

14.40 

2.70 


It  may  be  said  that  as  the  American  in  Louisiana  and 
Texas  under  modern  methods  cultivates  much  more  land 
than  the  others  he  receives  more  pay.  That  is  true,  but  it 
does  not  alter  the  fact  as  shown  by  the  report,  that  the  rate 
of  wages  for  what  is  actually  done  is  far  lower  for  the 
American  working  under  modern  methods  than  for  the 
Chinaman  or  any  other  foreign  worker. 

The  contention  that  because  the  American  working  under 
modern  methods  cultivates  more  land  and  therefore  re- 
ceives an  aggregate  of  more  pay  than  the  others  ignores 
the  value  of  the  service  rendered  and  the  results  pro- 
duced. If  the  value  of  labor  is  to  be  estimated  only  by  the 
number  of  hours  consumed  in  the  performance  of  the  work 
it  puts  a  distinct  premium  upon  inferior  workmanship  and 
primitive  methods  as  compared  with  improved  methods 
by  which  greater  results  can  be  obtained. 

The  skilled  American  who  is  competent  to  handle  the 
machinery  needed  for  the  attainment  of  the  greater  results 
which  he  achieves  actually  receives  a  lower  rate  of  pay 
for  the  results  produced  than  the  East  Indian  or  the  China- 
ma  D. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  American  invests  large  capital  in 
machinery  and  other  improvements  with  which  to  conduct 
his  enterprise  upon  modern  methods.  That  is  true,  but  if 
the  consequence  of  employing  those  methods  is  to  reduce 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  85 

the  ratio  of  wages  for  the  workman  while  requiring  a 
higher  standard  of  skill  on  his  part,  the  tendency  is  clear- 
ly to  concentrate  in  the  hands  of  one  man  the  returns,  that 
by  more  primitive  methods  would  be  more  evenly  divided 
among  many.  Is  it  to  be  expected  that  American  workmen 
will  feel  encouraged  to  engage  in  work  for  others  which  di- 
rectly tends  to  increase  the  proportion  of  profits  for  the  em- 
ployer by  reducing  the  ratio  of  wages  of  the  workman. 
In  other  words,  can  any  workman  be  expected  to  be  satis- 
fied with  a  state  of  affairs  that  enriches  his  employer  by 
increasing  his  profits  while  effecting  a  corresponding  de- 
crease in  the  proportion  of  profits  of  the  workman. 

The  illustration  used  is  only  one  of  many  that  could  be 
selected  to  show,  upon  information  taken  from  the  high- 
est sources,  that  the  highly  skilled  workman  in  these  United 
States,  from  the  very  fact  that  he  uses  machinery  requir- 
ing a  high  degree  of  skill  and  care  in  its  management,  is 
actually  decreasing  his  rate  of  earnings  by  so  doing  while 
enriching  his  employer  by  the  very  same  means. 

This  brings  me  to  the  second  part  of  my  subject,  that 
the  rate  of  wages  in  the  United  States  has  been  upon  a 
continually  descending  scale  ever  since  the  foundation  of 
the  republic,  and  this  will  scarcely  be  questioned  by  anyone 
familiar  with  the  facts  mentioned  in  the  following  state- 
ment, the  correctness  of  which  must  be  admitted  by  all 
who  know  anything  about  them. 

It  is  well  known,  and  it  is  a  constant  boast,  that  the 
American  workman  of  today,  by  reason  of  the  many  im- 
provements in  machinery,  can  do  work  which  without  this 
improved  machinery  formerly  required  the  labor  of  many 
persons. 

To  use  a  few  illustrations  that  are  generally  known  even 
among  those  who  have  made  no  study  of  industrial  con- 


86  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

ditions,  the  cotton  jenny  enables  one  person  to  accomplish 
what  without  it  would  require  the  labor  of  many  hundreds 
of  hands.  The  use  of  modern  shoemaking  machinery  en- 
ables one  person  to  do  the  work  of  scores  of  workmen 
without  it.  The  same  is  true  of  nail  making  machines, 
planing  mills  and  a  long  list  of  other  machines  which  in 
each  case  enables  one  person  to  do  the  work  formerly  re- 
quiring many  hands. 

The  consequence  of  all  this  is  that  in  many  different 
lines  of  industry  a  few  persons  now  do  what  was  formerly 
done  by  many.  But  what  about  the  wages?  Does  the 
workman  who  today  single  handed  does  the  work  formerly 
done  by  many  receive  the  wages  formerly  paid  to  the  many, 
or  does  he  receive  much  the  same  wages  that  were  formerly 
paid  to  one  man?  The  fact  is  that  the  individual  workman 
today  receives  but  little  if  any  more  actual  pay  per  day, 
considering  the  difference  in  the  purchasing  power  of 
money  now  and  formerly,  than  he  did  when  his  work  pro- 
duced results  incomparably  less  than  it  does  now.  There- 
fore there  can  be  no  question  that  with  every  labor-saving 
device  in  machinery  the  rate  of  wages  of  the  workman, 
for  results  actually  produced,  has  been  reduced  thus  keep- 
ing wages  upon  a  continually  descending  scale  ever  since 
the  foundation  of  the  republic. 

The  statement  that  the  construction  of  the  new  machin- 
ery used  gives  employment  to  many  men  goes  for  little  or 
nothing,  for  if  the  machinery  did  not  pay  the  user  far  bet- 
ter than  the  labor  of  the  workmen  without  it  the  machin- 
ery would  certainly  never  be  used  and  the  machinery  itself 
being  made  upon  modern  methods  the  same  state  of  af- 
fairs as  to  wages  exists  here  as  in  other  cases. 

It  does  not  require  much  calculation  to  ascertain  that 
the  constant  replacing  of  many  men  by  one  man  as  the  re- 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  87 

suit  of  the  introduction  of  new  inventions  in  machinery 
must  ever  tend  to  reduce  the  number  of  workmen  engaged 
in  any  line  of  work  and  consequently  to  lower  the  rate  of 
wages  for  results  actually  obtained  by  those  who  use  the 
machinery. 

This  may  be  demonstrated  by  a  very  simple  illustration. 
If  ten  men  do  a  certain  piece  of  work  and  are  then  replaced 
by  one  man  who  does  the  work  that  they  all  together  did, 
unless  he  receives  the  same  wages  that  the  ten  men  together 
formerly  received,  the  rate  of  wages  for  the  work  done  has 
been  reduced  just  to  the  extent  of  the  difference  between 
his  wages  when  he  did  one  tenth  of  the  work  and  when  he 
does  it  all. 

We  will  be  told  again  of  the  investment  of  the  factory 
owner  or  other  employer  in  the  machinery  in  the  plant. 
This  can  in  no  way  change  the  result  as  to  the  workmen 
and  the  reduction  in  their  rate  of  wages.  It  may  be 
said  that  it  is  the  machinery  and  not  the  workman  who  does 
the  work.  This  contention  is  entirely  untenable,  for  with- 
out the  workman  and  his  intelligence  back  of  the  machine 
it  would  never  run,  for  no  machine  has  ever  been  invented 
or  ever  will  be  that  can  run  itself.  It  may  run  for  hours 
or  for  days,  but  it  always  requires  the  work,  mental  and 
manual,  of  the  workman  to  keep  it  going,  and  without  him 
the  skill  of  the  inventor  and  the  capital  of  the  owner 
would  be  expended  in  vain.  It  may  be  said  that  the  skill 
of  the  inventor  and  the  capital  of  the  owner  are  quite  as 
essential  as  the  mind  and  the  hand  of  the  workman. 
Granted,  but  that  does  not  alter  the  fact  that  without  the 
workman  the  machine  will  be  useless  and  that  the  skill  of 
the  inventor  and  the  capital  of  the  owner  can  go  no 
further  than  to  produce  the  machine  and  put  it  in  place 


88  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

where  it  can  be  brought  into  active  use  by  the  workman 
only. 

Is  there  any  remedy  for  all  this?  Yes,  two  exceedingly 
simple  ones,  first  to  make  the  enterprise  cooperative  so  that 
both  employers  and  employees  shall  be  benefited  by  the 
results  obtained  in  proportion  to  the  part  they  take  in  it, 
and  with  some  regard  to  the  length  of  time  they  have 
been  engaged  in  the  work,  having  always  in  mind  the 
fact  that  the  business  management  must  be  in  the  hands 
of  competent  persons;  for  a  disregard  of  this  most  es- 
sential consideration  has  been  the  cause  of  nearly  all  the 
failures  in  cooperative  undertakings.  On  the  other  hand 
an  enterprise  will  seldom  fail  if  properly  managed,  and  the 
writer  has  personal  knowledge  of  undertakings  on  the  co- 
operative plan  that  have  been  a  great  success  and  in  which 
every  one,  from  the  porters  and  the  draymen  to  the  man- 
agers had  a  personal  interest  in  every  dollar  earned  by  the 
business  so  that  every  one  was  thoroughly  loyal  to  the 
concern  for  he  was  a  part  of  it  and  to  work  against  it  was 
to  work  against  his  own  interests.  Loyalty  to  employers 
is  all  very  well,  but  the  best  way  to  secure  it  is  to  make 
every  one  in  the  concern  feel  that  the  interests  of  the  busi- 
ness are  his  interests. 

One  of  the  concerns  referred  to  was  always  under  the 
management  of  the  firm  who  built  it  up,  but  every  Christ- 
mas every  one  connected  with  the  house  received,  in  the 
form  of  a  Christmas  present,  a  dividend  which  in  a  number 
of  cases  doubled  his  regular  pay.  No  strikes  or  squabbles 
there  between  employers  and  employees. 

The  second  remedy  for  the  evils  resulting  from  the  intro- 
duction of  labor  saving  machinery  and  the  consequent 
displacement  of  workmen  and  the  reduction  in  the  rate  of 
the  wages  of  those  who  remain,  is  to  make  the  workman 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  89 

and  the  employer  the  same,  for  this  is  not  fully  accom- 
plished by  the  cooperative  plan  where  there  must  always 
be  discipline  and  the  control  of  some  by  others  to  make  it 
succeed.  But  where  a  man  works  for  himself,  as  is  the  case 
in  small  enterprises  or  upon  the  farm,  he  is  both  workman 
and  boss,  and  to  a  great  extent  also  the  market  for  his  own 
produce  in  so  far  as  he  can  use  it  for  himself  and  his 
family  and  establishment.  This  is  the  place  for  the  great 
majority  of  the  human  family  and  just  in  so  far  as  a 
government  builds  up  a  prosperous  agricultural  popula- 
tion, just  to  that  extent  is  the  stability  and  general  pros- 
perity of  the  entire  nation  assured. 

No  Employer  Ever  Pays  the  Wages  of  His  Industrial 
Employees. 

This  is  strictly  true  in  the  sense  that  in  all  industrial 
enterprises  every  workman  not  only  earns  his  own  pay, 
but  a  profit  for  his  employer  besides,  so  that  the  wages 
paid  do  not  come  out  of  the  pocket  of  the  employer  but  out 
of  the  earnings  of  the  workman,  and  if  such  were  not  the 
case  he  would  certainly  not  be  employed. 

This  may  be  considered  as  a  mere  play  upon  words,  but 
it  is  a  self  evident  fact,  and  is  important  as  a  different 
point  of  view  from  that  in  which  the  matter  is  very  often 
considered.  For  if  it  is  supposed  that  the  producer  of  values 
from  which  the  wages  must  be  paid  is  the  employer  and  not 
the  employee,  every  problem  in  the  industrial  world  is 
looked  at  from  the  wrong  end,  and  many  simple  questions 
become  greatly  involved  because  of  the  fundamental  error 
from  which  the  entire  train  of  thought  emanates. 

The  purpose  of  this  is  not  to  cause  discontent  or  con- 
tention, but  to  lay  down  a  few  facts  which  are  very  gener- 


90  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

ally  overlooked  and  a  disregard  of  which  has  caused  end- 
less misconceptions  and  contentions  upon  matters  of  princi- 
ple because  the  true  point  of  departure  was  lost  sight  of. 

The  truth  may  not  always  be  pleasant  for  everyone  to 
hear,  but  it  is  the  only  safeguard  in  considering  economic, 
or  any  other,  questions  upon  which  human  peace  and  hap- 
piness depend  and  the  nearer  we  get  to  the  truth  the  safer 
we  are,  for  the  rule  is  the  same  in  everything  as  it  is  in 
problems  of  natural  philosophy  or  mechanics.  If  we  do 
not  understand  the  law  of  nature  that  we  wish  to  turn  to 
account,  or  the  machine  that  we  are  handling,  we  are  in 
great  danger  of  disastrous  accidents  and  can  not  hope  to 
succeed  in  our  plans. 

Economic  principles  are  all  founded  upon  laws  of  nature 
which  are  certain  and  constant  in  their  operation  and  any 
result  to  be  desired  can  be  brought  about  only  by  a  clear 
understanding  and  a  proper  consideration  of  the  causes 
and  means  by  which  it  can  be  effected. 

Much  unhappiness  exists  because  of  the  point  of  view 
from  which  we  consider  conditions  which  confront  us  and 
many  persons  look  upon  the  owners  of  vast  fortunes  ac- 
cumulated by  a  few  persons  within  a  comparatively  short 
time  with  feelings  either  of  envy  or  hatred  because  they 
consider  only  the  fact  that  these  great  fortunes  have  too 
often  been  made  by  depriving  many  of  what  belongs  to 
them.  While  if  those  whose  only  aim  is  to  gather  large 
fortunes  far  in  excess  of  their  requirements,  and  quite  re- 
gardless of  any  good  that  can  be  done  with  them,  and  by 
any  means,  no  matter  how  dishonest  they  may  be,  are  un- 
derstood as  really  the  victims  of  a  passion  quite  as  degrad- 
ing and  brutalizing  as  drunkenness,  opium  eating,  the  low- 
est forms  of  common  gambling  or  any  other  vice,  they 
would  at  least  cease  to  look  upon  the  possessors  of  these 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  91 

great  fortunes  with  envy,  and  if  the  great  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple could  learn  to  look  upon  the  insatiable  craze  for  gain 
in  the  same  light  as  they  look  upon  any  loathsome  disease, 
or  an  old-fashioned  miser,  or  a  common  drunkard,  they 
would  be  made  less  unhappy  by  a  comparison  between  their 
own  lot  and  that  of  the  possessors  of  very  large  ill-gotten 
fortunes;  and  having  relegated  such  persons  to  the  same 
class  of  society  as  drunkards,  gamblers,  pickpockets,  etc., 
they  would  be  enabled  to  see  more  clearly  and  dispassion- 
ately how  to  rid  themselves  of  the  evils  resulting  from  the 
accumulation  of  unwieldly  fortunes  in  the  hands  of  the  few 
at  the  expense  of  the  many  and  they  would  realize  that 
far  more  frequently  than  is  commonly  supposed  the  remedy 
for  each  one  is  in  his  own  hands,  and  they  would  feel  that 
the  true  standard  for  real  comfort  and  peace  of  mind  is 
a  reasonable  competency,  with  health  and  contentment, 
rather  than  the  possession  of  wealth  beyond  any  real  need, 
and  that  excessive  avarice  is  a  most  wretched  slavery  which 
does  not  bring  peace  nor  happiness  in  this  life  nor  a  hope 
of  either  in  the  life  to  come. 

In  the  history  of  our  country  with  its  almost  boundless 
opportunities  many  fortunes  have  been  acquired  by  the 
natural  growth  in  value  of  real  property  by  the  increase 
in  population,  by  the  growth  of  flocks  and  herds  and  by 
the  building  up  by  thrift  and  economy  of  manufacturing 
establishments  with  none  of  the  injustice  involved  in  so 
many  modern  monopolies,  so  that  the  mere  possession  of 
wealth  should  never  be  a  ground  for  hatred  or  envy. 

There  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun  and  the  old  laws 
against  "Forestalling  the  markets"  afforded  protection 
against  monopolies  in  the  necessaries  of  life  such  as  have 
caused  such  distress  in  these  latter  days,  and  by  means  of 
which  large  fortunes  have  been  dishonestly  accumulated, 


92  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

destroying  the  balance  in  the  economic  world,  for  no  truer 
saying  was  ever  penned  than  the  following  words: 

"111  fares  the  land  to  hastening  ills  a  prey 
Where  wealth  accumulates  and  men  decay." 
What  has  been  lacking  is  simple  justice  and  a  fearless 
prosecution  of  those  who  have  been  systematically  robbing 
the  people. 

In  the  past  there  has  been  a  lamentable  want  of  initia- 
tive and  energetic  actien  on  the  part  of  the  executive 
whose  duty  it  is  to  institute  proceedings  against  offenders 
instead  of  leaving  everything  to  the  judiciary  who  can 
scarcely  be  expected  to  act  both  as  prosecutors  and  trial 
courts,  or  to  private  action  which  resulted  in  inaction  in 
most  cases,  for  where  the  executive  failed  it  was  not  to  be 
expected  that  private  interests  could  cope  with  such  evils 
as  require  all  the  power  and  influence  of  the  executive,  with 
all  the  machinery  of  the  public  service,  to  check  combina- 
tions which  are  stronger  than  any  other  power  in  the 
country,  excepting  the  government,  backed  by  public 
opinion. 

The  Philosophy  of  Life.    Making  Work  For  the  Unemployed- 

By  a  law  of  nature,  a  principle  of  natural  philosophy, 
which  is  merely  another  way  of  saying,  by  the  will  of  the 
Creator,  which  is  the  Power  behind  all  nature,  or  the 
Mainspring  to  the  great  clock  of  nature,  as  well  as  the 
Hand  that  winds  it,  all  forces  work  along  the  line  of  least 
resistance.  Thus  a  stream  that  is  dammed  up  will  either 
rise  and  overflow  the  dam,  or  it  will  break  through  under 
it,  through  the  weakest  place  in  it.  When  the  wind  en- 
counters an  obstacle,  such  as  a  strong  building,  it  whistles 
around  it  and  over  it,  and  in  extraordinary  cases  only  does 
it  overturn  it  or  break  through  it.  A  tree  growing  under 
the  edge  of  a  rock  will  turn  in  its  growth  and  pass  by  it, 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  93 

never  exerting  its  strength  to  upheave  it,  if  it  can  pass  by 
it  in  any  way. 

In  battle  none  but  an  incompetent  commanding  general 
will  hurl  his  forces  against  the  whole  body  of  the  enemy 
in  a  frontal  attack,  if  by  any  possibility  he  can  attack  in 
flank  or  rear  where  the  opposing  forces  are  unprepared  for 
an  attack,  or  better  still,  if  possible,  he  will  always  attack 
detachments  of  the  enemy,  separated  from  the  main  body, 
and  so  destroy  or  capture  him  in  detail;  or  cut  his  com- 
munications and  shut  off  his  supplies. 

In  the  industrial  world,  why  then  should  men  engage  in 
great  contests  with  an  opposing  force,  if,  like  the  .wind  and 
the  growing  tree,  they  can  pass  around  the  obstacle  to 
success. 

In  great  industrial  contests,  like  strikes  or  lockouts,  the 
sources  of  supply  of  the  interests  opposed  to  the  workmen 
are  men.  Just  as  long  as  plenty  of  cheap  men  can  be  had 
to  replace  the  men  on  strike  or  locked  out  the  idle  men  are 
at  a  great  disadvantage,  and  attempts  to  cut  off  the  supply 
of  men  by  picketing,  or  drawing  them  into  the  unions,  is  no 
remedy  at  all,  for  the  effect  of  these  moves  is  to  increase,  or 
at  least  keep  up,  the  number  of  idle  men,  and  the  root  of 
the  whole  difficulty  is  that  there  are  already  too  many  idle 
men  coming  into  competition  with  one  another  in  the  con- 
gested centers  of  population,  that  is,  in  the  cities. 

Why  not  permanently  remove  the  cause  of  the  trouble 
by  cutting  off  the  supply  of  men,  for  this  can  easily  be 
done,  and  so  by  reducing  the  number  of  workmen  in  the 
cities  there  will  not  be  crowds  of  other  men  ready  to  com- 
pete for  their  places  at  lower  wages,  for  nothing  can  be 
more  simple  than  to  do  this. 

The  strength  of  a  labor  organization  is  in  inverse  order 
to  its  numbers ;  that  is,  the  fewer  the  workmen  the  stronger 


94  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

they  are,  for  the  smaller  their  numbers  the  further  they 
are  removed  from  the  danger  of  overstocking  the  labor 
market  and  reducing  wages,  for  the  labor  market  is  like 
any  other  market;  the  greater  the  supply  of  workmen,  the 
lower  the  wages  will  be. 

How  to  Avoid  Overstocking  the  Labor  Market. 

In  the  United  States  the  millions  of  acres  of  fertile  idle 
lands,  waiting  to  be  tilled  are  the  natural  outlet  for  the  idle 
workmen  in  the  cities  who  can  till  them,  and  the  manner 
of  bringing  the  idle  workmen  and  the  idle  lands  together 
is  simple  enough. 

Let  labor  organizations  form  bands  among  themselves  of 
10  or  20  families  each,  then  provide  one  or  more  families  in 
each  band  with  a  home  on  a  farm.  By  establishing 
these  families  together  in  groups,  with  not  to  exceed  40 
acres  to  each  family,  with  the  necessary  implements  and 
live  stock  to  make  them  independent  and  self-supporting, 
each  family  will  soon  begin  to  produce  revenue,  over  and 
above  its  actual  expenses,  which  will  be  turned  into  the 
common  fund  until  the  land  has  paid  back  to  the  organi- 
zation what  it  cost,  with  the  improvements  and  live  stock, 
and  a  moderate  rate  of  interest  on  the  investment,  so  that 
every  dollar  of  this  is  available  for  providing  other  homes 
for  other  families,  and  each  family  so  established  upon  a 
home  in  the  country  is  taken  out  of  competition  with  those 
who  remain  in  the  congested  city  populations,  and  it  will 
be  necessary  to  establish  in  homes  of  their  own  on  land, 
where  they  will  be  forever  independent,  a  small  number 
only  of  those  from  the  cities  to  relieve  the  congestion  and 
put  a  stop  to  the  overstocking  of  the  labor  market  with  all 
its  attendant  evils. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  95 

During  the  past  few  weeks  (the  latter  part  of  1909),  the 
money  spent  in  supporting  men  on  strike  and  locked  out, 
with  their  families,  would  have  been  sufficient  to  provide 
homes  on  land  for  thousands  of  families,  every  one  of  which 
would  soon  have  been  producers,  repaying  into  the  com- 
mon fund  the  cost  of  their  homes,  to  be  again  used  in  pro- 
viding homes  for  still  other  families.  This  is  co-operation  of 
the  best  kind,  which,  conducted  upon  business  principles,  is 
sure  to  win. 

Large  Cities  the  Greatest  Menace  to  the  Nation. 

The  centralization,  the  concentration  and  the  congestion 
of  population  in  large  cities  is  the  greatest  danger  that 
can  possibly  threaten  any  nation,  and  yet  many  narrow- 
minded  men  actually  strive  to  build  up  cities  of  great  size, 
and  do  not  seem  to  be  aware  that  crime,  misery  and  unrest 
increase  with  the  size  of  cities. 

Efforts  are  constantly  being  made  to  introduce  greater 
transportation  facilities  to  aid  in  the  increase  of  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  largest  cities,  instead  of  trying  by  every 
available  means  to  reduce  the  population  and  relieve  the 
congestion  in  these  great  centers  of  crime  and  misery. 

There  are  entire  nations  which,  in  a  whole  year,  have  less 
crimes  than  are  sometimes  recorded  for  a  single  night  in 
the  cities  of  New  York  or  Chicago,  and  as  the  populations 
of  large  cities  increase,  this  state  of  affairs  grows  constantly 
worse,  and  if  we  had  anything  in  the  least  resembling  an 
economic  system  in  the  country  all  the  resources  of  the 
national  government  would  be  employed  to  reduce  the  pop- 
ulation of  all  the  large  cities  in  the  country,  instead  of  en- 
couraging their  growth. 

Large  cities  depend  entirely  upon  the  country  for  every- 
thing that  they  need  from  day  to  day,  and  the  larger  the 


96  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

city  the  greater  the  problem  of  providing  its  daily  supply  of 
the  necessaries  of  life,  and  a  single  day  of  interrupted 
traffic  would  cause  positive  distress  to  many  families,  and 
a  few  days  of  storm,  sufficient  to  cut  off  communications, 
would  reduce  many  of  the  residents  of  a  city  to  starvation 
diet,  and  this  is  one  of  the  greatest  evils  and  dangers  of 
cities  that  increase  unduly  in  size. 

A  few  years  ago  it  was  found  that  in  the  city  of  Chicago 
over  70,000  children  came  to  school  each  morning,  so  weak 
from  want  of  sufficient  food  that  they  were  unable  to  give 
proper  attention  to  their  lessons,  and  a  plan  was  considered 
for  giving  them  breakfast,  each  day  at  school,  so  that  the 
poor,  starving  children  could  be  in  condition  to  learn  their 
lessons.  A  similar  state  of  affairs  exists  today  in  every 
city  of  the  Union,  the  number  of  those  who  suffer  from 
hunger  being  larger  or  smaller  according  to  many  circum- 
stances quite  beyond  their  control,  but  the  greatest  dis- 
tress can  always  be  found  among  many  thousands  of  the 
inhabitants  of  every  large  city,  and  the  larger  the  city  the 
greater  is  the  distress. 

The  writer  had  occasion  to  visit  every  part  of  the  state 
of  Iowa,  which  is  one  of  the  richest  in  the  United  States. 
At  that  time,  in  the  entire  state,  there  was  but  one  city  with 
a  population  of  75,000.  Most  of  the  towns  had  from  1,500 
to  10.000.  In  the  smaller  towns  everyone  seemed  to  own 
his  home;  there  was  more  work  for  those  who  wanted  it 
than  they  could  do,  and  everyone  seemed  not  only  well  off, 
but  actually  wealthy.  On  a  fine  evening,  actually  everyone 
seemed  to  have  his  own  handsome  carriage  and  horses,  and 
they  turned  out  to  enjoy  themselves  with  their  families. 

But  just  as  soon  as  you  came  to  the  larger  towns,  there 
was  the  fringe  of  shanties  with  the  misery  and  want  always 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  97 

found  in  the  larger  places,  and  the  larger  the  town  the  more 
of  the  want  and  misery  was  to  be  found. 

The  distinguished  writer,  Tolstoi,  has  written  many  re- 
markable things,  not  all  of  them  worthy  of  admiration. 
Probably  the  best  thing  he  ever  wrote  was  that  if  he  had 
his  way  he  would  destroy  all  the  cities  and  establish  every 
family  upon  a  home  of  its  own  in  the  country,  and  he 
showed  his  own  faith  in  the  advantages  of  country  life,  for 
although  a  Russian  nobleman,  and  a  man  of  wealth,  he  spent 
a  considerable  part  of  each  day  working  as  a  common 
farm  laborer  with  his  workmen  on  his  place  in  the  country. 


98  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 


CHAPTER  VI. 
How  Trusts  Are  Formed. 

The  word  "trust"  is  a  misleading  one,  as  most  trusts  are 
expressly  authorized  by  law,  and  are  perfectly  right  and 
proper;  but,  in  this  volume,  it  will  be  used  in  the  present, 
popular  sense  as  meaning  an  unlawful  monopoly  or  com- 
bination in  restraint  of  trade. 

We  will  suppose  that  it  is  proposed  to  get  control  of  a 
number  of  banks,  factories  or  mines;  that  all  together  they 
are  capitalized  for  $5,000,000.00;  the  manner  of  procedure 
would  be  somewhat  as  follows: 

Ordinarily  a  so-called  "holding  company"  is  organized 
to  take  over  the  stock  of  all  these  companies  in  trust.  This 
trust  company  would  be  stocked  for,  say  $50,000,000.00,  ten 
times  the  amount  of  the  combined  stock  of  the  companies 
which  it  is  proposed  to  swallow  up. 

An  arrangement  would  be  made  with  those  controlling 
the  stock  of  the  several  companies  by  which  they  would 
transfer  to  the  trust  company  a  majority  of  the  stock  of 
each  of  these  different  companies,  say  $3,000,000.00  of 
stock,  par  value,  in  consideration  for  which  they  would  re- 
ceive $6,000,000.00  of  the  stock  of  the  trust  company,  par 
value,  with  a  guarantee  that  this  new  stock  would  reach 
par  within  60  days  after  the  deal  was  closed. 

On  the  strength  of  the  credit  (?)  of  the  trust  company, 
say  $1,500,000.00  would  be  borrowed  from  banks  controlled 
by  the  directors  of  the  trust  company.  With  this  a  quar- 
terly dividend  of  three  per  cent  would  be  paid  upon  the 
stock  of  the  trust  company,  at  the  rate  of  twelve  per  cent 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  99 

per  annum,  and  as  a  quarterly  dividend  of  1  and  %  per 
cent,  or  6  per  cent  a  year,  would  be  a  very  good  dividend 
upon  any  reliable  stock,  this  would  cause  the  entire  $50,- 
000,000.00  stock  of  the  new  trust  company  to  go  to  par,  at 
least,  upon  the  stock  exchanges  and  boards  of  trade. 

The  trust  would  then  proceed  to  unload  upon  the  con- 
fiding public  a  little  less  than  half  of  its  stock  at  par.  If 
$20,000,000.00  only  of  its  stock  were  unloaded  upon  the 
dear  public,  looking  for  safe  (?)  investments,  after  paying 
off  the  loan  of  $1,500,000.00  that  had  been  made,  to  pay  the 
first  quarterly  dividend  of  3  per  cent,  the  trust  company 
would  be  the  gainer,  at  the  expense  of  the  public,  by  nearly 
$18,000,000.00,  without  having  invested  a  single  cent. 

Now  the  public  has  stock  of  the  trust  company,  for  which 
it  has  paid  $20,000,000.00,  and  which  has  absolutely  nothing 
back  of  it,  excepting  the  $5,000,000.00  of  stock  of  the  orig- 
inal companies  which  have  been  absorbed  by  the  trust  com- 
pany. 

It  is  now  proper  (?)  for  the  trust  company  to  get  back 
this  $20,000,000.00  of  its  stock  for  as  little  money  as  pos- 
sible. So  it  pays  no  dividends  whatever  for  a  time,  with- 
holding even  the  legitimate  profits  of  the  business  of  the 
companies  which  it  has  absorbed. 

A  stock  which  pays  no  dividends  soon  goes  down  rap- 
idly in  market  value,  and  this  stock  quickly  drops  to  from 
$5.00  to  $20.00  on  a  hundred.  Assuming  that  it  holds  the 
higher  figure  of  $20.00  a  share  which  had  been  bought  for 
$100.00,  the  trust  company  can  buy  back  for  $4,000,000.00 
the  stock  that  it  had  previously  sold  for  $20,000,000.00,  thus 
cleaning  up  a  profit  of  $16,000,000.00,  which  together  with 
the  $18,000,000.00  made  by  its  first  sale,  makes  a  neat  total 
of  $32,000,000.00  stolen  from  the  public  without  investing 
one  cent,  and  by  paying  one  or  two  more  large  quarterly 


100 

dividends,  out  of  its  profits,  it  can  sell  the  same  stock  over 
again,  and  a  little  later  on,  buy  it  back  again  for  next  to 
nothing,  by  passing  by  its  dividends  without  paying  them, 
and  so  the  merry  dance  goes  on,  the  public  always  "paying 
the  fiddler"  while  the  trust  gets  the  money.  This  game  is 
also  much  helped  by  lying  reports  of  false  profits  or  losses 
which  tend  to  advance  the  prices  when  the  trust  wishes  to 
sell,  and  to  make  prices  fall  when  the  trust  wishes  to  buy, 
and  sometimes  a  strike  or  a  lockout  is  worked  up  for  the 
benefit  of  the  trust,  to  -lower  prices  of  stock,  and  many 
other  schemes  are  employed  to  affect  market  prices  which 
now  very  seldom  depend  upon  any  legitimate  cause,  such 
as  supply  and  demand  or  abundance  or  scarcity  of  any 
article,  but  are  very  commonly  controlled  by  trust  gamblers 
and  speculators,  always  at  the  expense  of  the  general 
public. 

When  companies  that  trusts  wish  to  control  refuse  to  sell 
out,  and  cannot  be  bribed  or  scared  into  allowing  them- 
selves to  be  absorbed  by  a  trust,  "confidence  men"  are  em- 
ployed to  obtain  positions  with  these  obstinate,  independ- 
ent companies,  or  failing  in  this,  they  employ  detectives  to 
watch  all  shipments  and  sales  made  by  these  independent 
concerns  and  then  proceed  systematically  to  break  them 
down  by  underselling  them,  by  interfering  with  their  ship- 
ments and  collections  in  every  way,  throwing  them  or  their 
customers  into  the  hands  of  receivers,  and  by  every  pos- 
sible rascally  means  relentlessly  pursuing  them,  until  an 
independent  concern  of  limited  means  almost  invariably 
falls  before  this  persistent  persecution  on  the  part  of  a  trust 
with  practically  unlimited  means,  and  no  conscience  to  in- 
terfere with  its  plans. 

In  the  year  1891,  the  writer,  with  the  co-operation  of 
several  capitalists,  entered  into  an  arrangement  for  the 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  101 

development  of  the  oil  fields  of  Wyoming,  which  were 
among  the  richest  then  known,  and  an  escrow  was  made, 
with  deeds  running  to  the  writer,  of  practically  all  the  oil 
fields  of  Wyoming,  but  fear  of  the  Standard  Oil  company 
rendered  it  impossible  to  secure  the  capital  necessary  for 
their  development,  and  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dol- 
lars worth  of  oil  continued  to  run  to  waste  to  the  great  loss 
of  the  owners  and  of  the  entire  people  of  Wyoming. 

Some  years  ago  an  interesting  conversation  was  over- 
heard in  a  railway  coach  between  an  ex-employe  of  the 
Standard  Oil  and  a  clergyman.  The  ex-Standard  Oil  man 
declaring  that  a  legislature  had  been  bribed  by  Standard 
Oil.  The  clergyman  indignantly  declared  that  such  could 
not  possibly  have  been  the  case,  to  which  the  ex-Standard 
Oil  man  answered,  "But  I  know,  for  I  carried  the  money 
to  the  legislators  myself." 

Trusts  Use  the  Money  of  Their  Victims  to  Destroy  Them. 

The  leading  trusts  of  the  country  have  practically  un- 
limited means  at  their  disposal,  or  the  ability  to  control  the 
banking  system,  as  the  banks  of  the  country  generally  very 
commonly  send  most  of  their  money  to  certain  banks  cen- 
trally located,  from  which  it  is  obtained  by  the  trusts,  to 
be  used  for  their  purposes,  so  that  the  very  money  that  a 
victim  of  a  trust  has  deposited  in  his  local  bank  is  often 
used  by  the  trust  that  is  choking  the  life  out  of  his  busi- 
ness for  his  destruction  in  the  business  world. 

How  the  Fanner  Worked  For  Others  For  Nothing  and  Paid 
His  Own  Board. 

A  farmer  once  went  to  a  local  elevator  with  his  grain. 
As  the  elevator  was  paying  but  40  cents  for  wheat  at  that 


102 

time,  he  took  an  elevator  receipt  and  left  his  wheat  charged 
with  10  cents  a  bushel  for  six  months  storage  in  advance, 
which  was  the  best  arrangement  that  he  could  make  with 
the  elevator.  At  the  end  of  the  six  months,  as  he  could 
get  no  more  for  his  wheat,  he  renewed  his  receipt,  and  10 
cents  a  bushel  more  was  charged  against  his  wheat. 

In  the  meantime,  when  first  he  left  his  wheat  at  the  ele- 
vator, before  he  got  home  to  his  farm,  the  wheat  was  on 
the  way  to  Chicago,  with  a  sight  draft  attached  to  the  ship- 
ping bill  for  the  market  price  of  the  wheat,  and  all  the  time 
the  farmer  was  paying  storage,  his  money,  obtained  for 
his  grain,  was  being  used  again  and  again,  making  a  profit 
on  it,  out  of  the  grain  that  had  never  remained  a  single 
night  in  the  elevator. 

As  the  farmer  had  to  have  money  for  his  current  ex- 
penses, he  went  to  the  local  bank,  which  was  really  the  same 
concern  as  the  elevator,  and  using  his  grain  receipts  as  col- 
lateral, he  borrowed  his  own  money  from  the  bank,  which 
had  been  received  for  his  wheat  when  it  was  shipped  im- 
mediately after  he  first  delivered  it  to  the  elevator,  and  on 
this  loan,  of  his  own  money,  he  paid  interest  at  the  rate 
of  12  per  cent  a  year. 

Finally,  at  the  end  of  a  year,  as  he  could  get  no  more  for 
his  wheat,  he  cashed  his  elevator  receipts  at  40  cents  a 
bushel,  after  deducting  one-half  of  this  for  storage,  while 
his  grain  was  not  in  the  elevator,  and  twelve  cents  on  the 
dollar,  for  his  own  money  borrowed  from  the  bank,  making 
a  total  of  62  cents  on  the  dollar  that  the  elevator  bank 
concern  had  got  from  him,  leaving  him.  38  cents  on  the 
dollar  to  show  for  his  year's  labor,  besides  paying  all  his 
expenses. 

This  was  an  actual  occurrence,  and  a  sample  of  many  in 
those  days,  which  was  related  to  the  writer  by  the  farmer 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  103 

and  his  wife,  and  as  the  wife  remarked,  they  had  worked 
for  others  for  nothing  and  had  paid  their  own  expenses. 

Thank  God,  this  has  all  been  changed  now  as  the  farmers 
own  most  of  the  elevators  and  many  of  the  local  banks. 

Rapid  Transit  Facilities  Aid  Monopolies,  Commonly  Called 

Trusts. 

Nothing  has  done  so  much  to  break  down  small  indus- 
tries everywhere  as  rapid  transit  facilities,  whose  tendency 
always  is  to  build  up  great  financial,  industrial  and  com- 
mercial centers  by  the  destruction  of  the  smaller  ones. 

Without  rapid  transit,  and  the  unjust  discrimination  in 
favor  of  the  large  dealers  in  the  congested  centers  of  pop- 
ulation, many  thousands  of  prosperous  small  concerns 
would  be  scattered  broadcast  over  the  entire  country,  and 
would  have  distributed  among  them  the  business  that  is 
now  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  a  few  whose  number  is 
ever  growing  less  while  their  wealth  increases. 

The  effect  of  this  has  been  to  make  the  people  generally 
become  more  and  more  dependent  upon  the  very  monopolies 
and  trusts  that  are  constantly  crushing  out  the  smaller  con- 
cerns. Even  the  farmers  have  got  into  the  habit  of  looking 
largely  to  foreign  countries  for  markets  for  their  produce 
and  therefore  depending  upon  the  transportation  companies 
to  carry  their  crops  to  market,  instead  of  doing  everything 
in  their  power  to  develop,  and  build  up,  local  and  home 
markets  in  which  they  can  dispose  of  them  without  depend- 
ing upon  transportation  companies. 

This  pernicious  habit  of  depending  upon  transportation 
companies  has  also  resulted  in  the  depression  or  destruc- 
tion of  home  industries  and  local  enterprises  so  that  many 
a  farmer  actually  sells  his  hogs  alive,  and  buys  his  pork, 
bacon  and  hams  after  paying  the  transportation  to  Chicago, 


104 

or  some  other  packing  center,  and  back  again,  besides  pay- 
ing a  good  profit  to  the  stockyards,  the  packers  and  a  num- 
ber of  other  middlemen,  although  in  every  farming  com- 
munity the  meat  could  be  dressed  and  cured  to  much  better 
advantage  at  home  than  anywhere  else,  for  where  the 
farmers  have  not  the  knowledge  or  inclination  to  do  their 
own  butchering,  dressing,  packing  and  curing,  by  employ- 
ing experts  for  that  purpose  they  could  conduct  local  ab- 
batoirs  and  packing  plants  just  as  successfully  as  they  now 
do  many  creameries,  cheese  factories,  starch  factories,  ele- 
vators, etc.,  etc.  The  same  is  true  of  feed  mills,  grist  mills, 
tanneries  and  woolen  mills,  and  it  is  pleasing  to  note  that 
in  a  number  of  places  enterprises  in  these  lines  owned  by 
farmers,  are  in  successful  operation. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  if  such  enterprises  were  es- 
tablished in  every  farming  community  by  farmers  to  work 
up  the  raw  material  produced  by  them,  that  with  less  than 
half  the  land  now  cultivated  by  them,  and  much  less  than 
half  the  labor  now  done  by  them,  they  would  be  far  better 
off  in  every  way  than  they  are  today,  for  then,  instead  of 
giving  up  most  of  their  profits  to  trusts  and  middlemen, 
they  would  keep  them  for  themselves. 

This  is  equally  true  of  canning  factories,  pickling  facto- 
ries, sausage  factories  and  the  whole  line  of  industries  that 
handle  the  produce  raised  by  farmers,  and  when  such  en- 
terprises have  failed  it  has  usually  been  because  specialists 
and  experts  in  these  lines  were  not  employed. 

Causes  of  High  Prices  of  Meats  and  Farm  Produce. 

Quite  recently  a  well  known  representative  of  the  beef 
trust  has  had  the  assurance  to  make  a  published  statement 
in  which  he  says  that  the  cause  of  the  present  high  prices 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  105 

of  meats  is  due  to  the  increase  in  population  and  the  break- 
ing up  of  the  cattle  ranges  of  the  West  into  farms. 

The  statement  about  the  increase  in  population  having 
any  effect  upon  the  relation  between  the  supply  and  de- 
mand for  meats,  and  therefore  upon  prices,  is  so  trivial  in 
view  of  our  very  small  population  per  acre,  smaller  than 
almost  any  other  country  in  the  world,  except  some  portions 
of  the  wildest  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa,  as  scarcely  to  de- 
serve any  attention,  were  it  not  that  it  would  be  rather 
humiliating  to  allow  such  a  statement  to  pass  uncontra- 
dicted,  as  if  there  might  possibly  be  anyone  in  this  country 
ignorant  enough  to  believe  it,  it  would  not  be  worth  an- 
swering. In  this  connection,  not  long  ago,  it  was  estimated 
that  the  state  of  Texas  alone  could  produce  food  enough  for 
the  entire  world. 

As  to  the  breaking  up  of  the  cattle  ranges  in  the  West 
into  farms,  having  any  effect  in  reducing  the  number  of 
cattle  raised  in  this  country,  a  moment's  reflection  will 
dispel  that  illusion,  or  deliberate  falsehood,  whichever  it 
may  be. 

It  was  estimated  by  cattlemen  that  200  acres  of  range 
land  were  required  for  the  maintenance  of  each  head  of 
cattle.  A  half  a  ton  of  hay  cut  on  wild  range  lands  per 
acre  was  a  very  good  crop,  and  in  many  places  no  where 
near  this  quantity  could  be  cut. 

To  be  very  conservative,  let  us  cut  the  estimate  of  the 
cattleman  in  two,  and  assume  that  100  acres  of  land  was 
sufficient  for  one  head  of  cattle.  Anyone  who  takes  the 
pains  to  inform  himself  knows  that  on  cultivated  land, 
without  irrigation,  or  other  special  aids  to  large  crops,  eight 
or  ten  tons  of  corn  fodder,  and  at  least  an  equal  quantity 
of  peas,  beans  or  root  crops  per  acre  can  be  readily  raised, 
and  that  with  any  pretense  at  economic  methods  in  stock 


106  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

raising,  from  2  to  4  head  of  live  stock  can  be  maintained 
per  acre  on  cultivated  farm  lands.  The  result  of  this  is 
that  where  1  head  of  cattle  was  raised  on  range  lands,  from 
200  to  400  can  easily  be  raised  on  the  same  land  as  farm 
lands,  consequently  our  learned  (?)  and  credible  (?)  beef 
trust  friend  has  misstated  the  case,  on  the  wrong  side,  to 
the  extent  of  at  least  200  to  1.  From  such  a  source,  per- 
haps this  is  as  near  the  truth  as  we  have  any  right  to 
expect. 

Under  range  conditions  also  very  commonly  more  than 
half  of  the  calves  born  were  killed  while  young,  by  ex- 
posure, by  wild  animals,  by  cattle  thieves,  etc.,  and  upon 
some  ranches,  but  very  few  calves  ever  grew  up;  besides 
this,  during  severe  winters,  many  of  the  grown  cattle  died, 
so  that  it  is  probably  a  conservative  estimate  to  state  that 
fully  400  head  of  cattle,  on  an  average,  are  raised  under 
farm  conditions  for  every  head  raised  under  range  con- 
ditions. 

Among  other  causes  given  for  the  high  prices  of  farm 
produce,  at  the  present  time,  is  the  increase  in  population, 
and  the  running  down  of  farm  lands,  resulting  in  a  smaller 
yield  per  acre  than  heretofore,  and  the  public  are  appar- 
ently expected  to  believe  this. 

The  fact  is  that  in  the  country  as  a  whole,  better  farm- 
ing methods  are  constantly  being  introduced,  in  consequence 
of  the  activity  of  the  United  States  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment, agricultural  colleges,  experimental  stations,  farmers 
institutes,  etc.,  which  have  combined  to  bring  about  a  great 
improvement  in  the  methods  employed  by  many  farmers, 
and  in  an  increased  yield  per  acre,  and  now  almost  the  only 
place  where  this  is  not  the  case  is  among  the  very  unde- 
sirable class  of  men  who  raise  a  very  large  acreage  of  wheat 
for  a  few  years  and  then  sell  the  land  for  what  it  will  bring 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  107 

after  they  have  done  all  in  their  power  to  exhaust  it.  But 
as  this  land  gets  into  the  hands  of  real  farmers,  especially 
those  who  have  learned  farming  in  Europe,  among  the  very 
best  of  whom  are  the  Italian  farmers,  this  same  land  is  soon 
made  far  more  productive  than  ever  before,  and  with  a 
greatly  increased  yield  per  acre. 

Most  farms  in  the  United  States  consist  of  not  less  than 
160  acres,  and  in  many  of  them  of  much  more,  so  that,  for 
the  entire  country  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  average  would 
be  not  less  than  160  acres.  Consequently,  for  every  farm  of 
average  size  that  is  opened  up  not  less  than  160  acres  is 
shortly  made  available  towards  supplying  the  food  stuffs 
for  the  nation.  It  is  usually  estimated  that  about  one-third 
of  the  entire  population  is  engaged  in  farming,  and  as  one 
person  is  easily  maintained  upon  the  products  of  each  acre ; 
during  the  same  time  that  1,000,000  farms  are  opened  up, 
in  order  to  have  the  population  keep  up  with  the  productive- 
ness of  the  country,  the  population  must  increase  to  the 
extent  of  160,000,000  persons. 

From  this  simple  statement  of  facts  it  is  quite  evident 
that  those  who  would  have  us  believe  that  the  increase  in 
population  has  anything  to  do  with  high  prices,  are  off  in 
their  figures  to  the  extent  of  several  hundreds  of  millions 
of  population. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  who  do  not  know  that  on  an 
average  one  acre  of  ground  is  sufficient  to  maintain  one 
person,  attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  in  many  parts  of 
the  world  four  persons,  and  sometimes  many  more,  are  sup- 
ported in  comfort  from  each  acre  of  land. 

The  total  yield  from  the  land  in  the  United  States,  and 
also  the  yield  per  acre,  are  increasing  far  in  excess  of  the 
increase  in  population. 


108  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

We  have  not  far  to  go  to  find  the  real  cause  of  the  ab- 
normally high  prices  at  the  present  time  (February,  1910), 
as  the  withdrawal  from  market  of  any  article  in  common 
use,  and  the  withholding  it  from  sale,  is  neither  more  nor 
less  than  the  old,  old  crime  of  forestalling  the  markets, 
which,  in  the  good  old  days  when  at  least  some  of  the  laws 
were  enacted  for  the  benefit  of  the  public  in  general,  and 
not  all  for  the  benefit  of  a  favored  few,  was  an  offense  very 
properly  punished  by  a  term  in  the  penitentiary,  or  by  some- 
thing still  worse. 

Withdrawing  a  great  quantity  of  the  available  supply  of 
meats  and  farm  produce  from  the  markets  is  of  itself  suffi- 
cient to  fully  account  for  the  high  prices  now  prevailing, 
without  any  reflection  whatever  upon  the  farmers,  nor  upon 
the  so-called  extravagance  of  the  people  generally,  and 
when  to  this  we  add  the  combinations  in  restraint  of  trade 
between  the  beef  trust  and  some  of  the  transportation  com- 
panies, there  is  not  the  slightest  need  of  inquiring  further 
as  to  the  real  cause  of  present  high  prices  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life. 

The  men  guilty  of  entering  into  these  combinations  are 
doing  so  in  open  defiance  of  the  laws  and  of  the  rights  of 
the  great  mass  of  the  people,  and  in  doing  so  they  are  play- 
ing with  edged  tools,  for  the  more  of  this  there  is  the  more 
certainly  is  a  day  of  terrible  retribution  approaching. 
These  guilty  men  are  neither  more  nor  less  than  anarchists 
who  rely  upon  the  size  of  their  bank  accounts  to  save  them 
from  the  punishment  of  their  misdeeds,  and  they  are  by  far 
the  most  dangerous  anarchists  in  the  country,  for  an  indi- 
vidual fanatic  or  malcontent  cannot  do  much  harm;  about 
the  worst  he  can  do  being  to  commit  some  murder  or  other 
act  of  lawless  violence,  for  which  he  is  pretty  sure  to  be 
arrested  and  punished,  but  a  man  with  sufficient  means  and 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  109 

influence  to  upset  the  regular  administration  of  justice  and 
clog  the  wheels  of  industry  and  commerce,  becomes  a  dan- 
gerous enemy  to  good  government,  and  a  menace  to  the 
public  safety,  far  more  than  any  individual  offender  can 
be,  who  can  do  such  harm  only  as  he  is  capable  of  doing 
personally  by  acts  of  violence. 

The  following  figures  will  show  where  part  of  the  sup- 
ply of  food  stuffs  is  which  should  be  in  the  open  market  for, 
use  by  the  people: 

SOME  COLD  STORAGE  FIGURES. 

While  Prices  Soar,  Food  Worth  Billions  Is  Kept  From 

Public. 

(Philadelphia  Record.) 

"While  the  housewives  are  being  driven  by  the  high  prices 
to  boycott  meat,  here  is  what  the  Ice  and  Refrigerator  Blue 
Book  says  is  being  held  in  cold  storage: 

Fourteen  million  cattle,  6,000,000  calves,  25,000,000  sheep 
and  lambs  and  50,000,000  hogs. 

According  to  these  figures  from  the  official  guide  book, 
circulated  only  among  the  cold  storage  men,  there  is  in 
storage  one  entire  animal  for  each  adult  in  the  United 
States,  with  enough  whole  animals  left  over  to  give  two 
to  each  family. 

This  meat  is  being  held  in  558  cold  storage  plants.  In 
addition  it  may  interest  the  worried  housekeepers  to  know 
that  in  78  fish-freezing  plants  in  the  country,  there  are  fish 
waiting  to  be  doled  out  that  are  valued  at  $25,000,000. 


110  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

In  other  cold  storage  plants  during  any  year  now,  accord- 
ing to  the  storage  men's  own  statistics,  the  struggling  wage- 
earner  will  find: 

One  billion  eight  hundred  million  eggs,  130,000,000  pounds 
of  butter,  fruits  valued  at  $50,000,000. 

Then,  besides,  there  are  millions  of  pounds  of  potatoes, 
onions^  thousands  of  turtles,  eels,  cases  of  canned  goods, 
and  milk,  butter  and  cheese  valued  at  $100,000,000. 

The  total  value  of  meat  and  foodstuffs  placed  in  cold 
storage  during  a  year  at  present  is,  according  to  the  figures 
of  the  storage  concerns,  close  to  $3,000,000,000." 

Why  Factory  Goods  Cost  So  Much. 

A  good  sized  factory  requies  a  considerable  amount  of 
money  to  put  up  the  buildings,  and  as  scarcely  a  year  goes 
by  without  important  changes,  called  improvements,  in  the 
machinery  used  in  every  factory,  a  good  deal  more  money 
must  be  spent  in  making  changes  to  replace  the  machinery 
in  the  plant  by  the  latest  inventions  in  that  line,  so  that 
much  machinery  soon  becomes  "out  of  date"  and  of  no 
value  excepting  as  junk  iron  and  steel,  so  that  in  ten  years, 
all  the  machinery  in  a  factory  may  be  replaced  several 
times  over,  each  time  at  a  cost  fully  equal  to  the  first  cost 
of  the  machinery  for  the  entire  plant.  The  owners  of  large 
manufacturing  plants  and  their  families  never  do  any  me- 
chanical work  in  the  plant,  therefore  they  contribute  noth- 
ing to  the  labor  of  the  factory.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
principal  superintendents  and  foremen.  Then  there  must 
be  mechanical  engineers  to  make  repairs,  and  keep  all  ma-' 
chinery  in  running  order.  Considerable  sums  must  be  paid 
for  insurance,  for  lawyers,  for  royalties  on  patents  cover- 
ing .machinery  used  in  the  factory. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  111 

Without  considering  any  of  the  expenses  of  getting  the 
raw  material  to  the  factory;  after  they  have  been  manu- 
factured, and  are  ready  for  the  market,  they  must  be 
packed,  labeled,  loaded  onto  trucks  or  cars,  they  must  be 
carried  by  rail  or  water  to  the  cities  where  the  jobbers  are 
to  handle  them.  They  must  then  be  unloaded,  relabeled, 
assorted  and  stored  in  the  jobbing  or  wholesale  house,  until 
again  shipped  to  the  retailers. 

Traveling  men  then  go  on  the  road  to  find  purchasers  for 
them.  These  traveling  men  are  paid  high  salaries,  and  are 
required  to  put  up  at  the  most  expensive  hotels,  for  no  first- 
class  jobbing  house  would  consider  it  possible  to  keep  up 
the  standing  of  the  house  without  having  its  representatives 
always  stop  at  the  most  costly  hotels,  and  many  persons  do 
not  know  that  practically  all  the  first-class  hotels  in  the 
country  are  kept  up  by  the  patronage  of  commercial  trav- 
elers, and  if  such  a  financial  panic  were  'to  take  place  as 
to  take  most  of  the  traveling  men  off  the  road  for  six 
months,  just  about  every  hotel  in  the  country  would  have 
to  close  its  doors,  for  those,  not  traveling  men,  who  pat- 
ronize the  hotels  would  not  be  ten  per  cent  of  the  total  num- 
ber of  their  patrons. 

Where  the  commercial  travelers  place  orders  for  goods, 
they  must  again  be  shipped,  with  the  loading  onto  cars,  and 
often  a  loading  onto  trucks  before  that,  a  hauling  through 
the  streets,  unloading  at  the  freight  houses,  loading  onto 
trucks  in  the  freight  houses,  after  they  have  been  billed 
for  shipment,  a  hauling  through  freight  houses;  loading 
onto  the  cars;  transportation  by  rail;  unloading  at  their 
destination;  loading  onto  trucks  at  that  end  of  the  line; 
moving  on  trucks  through  the  freight  houses;  unloading 
again;  loading  onto  vans  or  city  trucks;  hauling  again 
through  the  city  streets ;  unloading  at  the  place  of  business 


112  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

of  the  retailer;  a  complete  assorting  by  the  retailer;  re- 
marking of  every  article  by  the  retailers'  clerks;  rent  of 
the  retailers'  building,  interest,  taxes  and  insurance  on  the 
building,  with  repairs,  and  assessments  for  local  city  work. 

In  large  retail  stores  there  are  managers,  floor  walkers, 
detectives  and  many  other  employers  whose  sole  business  is 
to  see  that  others  attend  to  their  work. 

The  manufacturers,  the  jobbers  and  the  retailers,  besides 
all  the  expenses  thus  far  mentioned,  must  have  an  army 
of  bookkeepers,  collectors,  deliverymen,  horses,  wagons  or 
auto  trucks,  with  large  bills  for  telegraph  and  telephone 
accounts;  insurance  upon  the  honesty  of  their  employees; 
janitors,  porters,  engineers,  etc.,  etc. 

In  this  entire  army  of  employes,  from  the  factory  to  the 
consumers,  the  only  ones  whose  labor  contributes  directly 
to  the  manufacture  of  the  articles  finally  sold  to  the  con- 
sumers, are  the  operatives  who  run  the  machines  which 
turn  out  the  goods.  All  the  style  kept  up  by  the  owners  of 
the  factory,  the  jobbers  and  the  large  retailers,  must  be 
paid  for  by  the  labor  of  these  workers  who  run  the  machines 
in  the  factory.  All  the  losses  for  bad  accounts,  usually  esti- 
mated to  be  about  one-third  of  the  gross  amounts  of  all 
sales  made  on  credit,  must  also  be  paid  for  by  the  labor  of 
these  factory  hands  who  run  the  machines,  for  all  others  are 
merely  auxiliary  to  them. 

In  addition  to  all  these  expenses,  anywhere  from  10  to 
50  or  more  per  cent  is  added  to  the  price  of  the  goods  by 
tariff  laws;  and  the  whole  price  is  finally  paid  by  the  con- 
sumers, that  is,  the  every-day  working  people  who  do  the 
great  bulk  of  the  work  of  the  world. 

Some  years  ago  a  member  of  congress  made  a  visit  to 
Austria.  While  there,  a  friend  took  him  to  buy  a  cigar;  it 
cost  5  cents,  and  in  the  United  States  the  same  cigar  would 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  113 

have  cost  50  cents.  The  congressman  also  bought  a  silk 
hat  for  $1.50,  which  would  have  cost  $8.00  in  the  United 
States;  and  various  other  articles  were  bought  for  prices 
about  in  proportion  to  those  mentioned. 

He  was  completely  amazed,  and  asked  his  friend  how  it 
was  possible  to  sell  those  articles  at  such  prices.  The  an- 
swer was,  "You  bought  that  cigar  from  the  man  who  made 
it,  and  you  bought  the  hat  and  other  articles  from  those 
who  had  made  them,  with  their  own  hands,  right  in  the 
building  where  you  bought  them."  There  had  not  been  a 
single  "middleman"  between  the  maker  and  the  consumer, 
and  all  the  profit  had  gone  to  the  maker  direct,  and  all  the 
profits  of  the  middlemen  had  been  saved  to  the  purchaser. 

A  number  of  years  ago  a  shoe  manufacturer  was  asked 
at  what  price  he  sold  a  certain  brand  of  shoes  to  "the 
trade."  He  answered  that  they  sold  at  a  good  profit  for 
$1.50  a  pair;  $18.00  a  dozen  pair.  The  same  shoes  were 
retailing  for  from  $3.00  to  $3.50  a  pair. 

In  that  same  city,  upon  several  occasions,  the  writer  saw 
notices  of  "fire  sales,"  and  observed,  that  at  each  one  of 
them,  sometimes  in  one  part  of  the  city,  sometimes  in  an- 
other, the  same  colored  man  always  stood  at  the  door  hand- 
ing out  cards  advertising  these  so-called  "fire  sales."  Upon 
one  occasion  he  bought  a  pair  of  these  shoes  for  $1.25,  and 
was  surprised  to  find  that  they  bore  the  brand  of  a  well 
known  shoe  factory  in  the  city. 

The  manufacturer  had  not  succeeded  in  inducing  the  re- 
tailers to  buy  his  goods,  although  of  excellent  quality,  and 
he  had  adopted  the  plan  of  renting  any  store  building,  tem- 
porarily unoccupied,  and  advertising  a  "fire  sale"  at  which 
he  retailed  his  shoes  direct  to  consumers,  at  about  one-third 
of  the  usual  retail  price. 


114  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

In  Arizona  the  Navajo  Indians  make  blankets  which  all 
competent  judges  declare  are  not  surpassed,  and  seldom 
equalled  in  the  world.  They  are  of  every  variety,  suitable 
for  piano  covers,  for  bed  covers,  for  floor  rugs.  These  In- 
dians raise  their  own  sheep,  clip  the  wool,  card  it,  spin  it, 
and  weave  it  on  little  hand  looms  made  by  themselves,  all 
entirely  by  handpower,  with  no  machinery  of  any  kind,  ex- 
cepting what  they  themselves  make. 

The  neighbors  of  the  Navajo  Indians,  the  Pueblo  Indians, 
do  the  most  beautiful  and  delicate  silver  work,  some  of  it 
being  the  finest  filigree  work,  and  all  who  see  it  admit 
that  it  is  not  surpassed  by  the  finest  work  done  in  France, 
Sweden  or  Morocco ;  yet  this  exquisite  work  is  done  without 
any  tools,  excepting  such  as  the  Indians  make  with  their 
own  hands;  they  have  no  other  machinery  whatever,  and  a 
kit  of  their  tools  could  be  put  inside  the  leg  of  a  woman's 
stocking. 

To  sum  up;  the  cause  of  high  prices  of  manufactured 
articles  is  that  there  are  too  many  middlemen,  and,  quite 
apart  from  the  effect  of  the  tariff,  there  is  altogether  too 
much  red  tape  about  the  ordinary,  every-day  business  of 
life.  Millions  of  persons  work  harder  to  earn  the  money 
with  which  to  buy  articles  that  they  wish  for,  than  would  be 
necessary  to  make  those  articles  themselves.  A  woman  or 
girl  who  is  used  to  knitting  can  make  herself  a  pair  of  stock- 
ings, at  odd  moments,  otherwise  not  turned  to  account,  with- 
out losing  the  time  to  go  " shopping"  for  them. 

Almost  any  farmer,  at  all  used  to  tools,  can  whittle  out 
a  spoke  for  his  wagon  with  a  spoke-shave,  or  make  an  ax 
handle,  in  far  less  time  than  it  takes  to  go  to  town  for  it, 
and  in  odd  moments  which  would  otherwise  be  wasted. 

The  Canadian  French  farmer  says.  "What  I  make  myself 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  115 

costs  me  nothing,"  because  these  things  are  usually  made 
at  times  which  would  otherwise  be  wasted. 

Today,  here  in  the  United  States,  there  are  thousands 
of  women  who  weave  various  articles  on  home-made  looms, 
which  are  of  a  quality  far  superior  to  anything  that  can  be 
bought,  and  in  some  cases  quite  as  fine  as  to  texture  and 
finish. 

The  great  Emperor  Charlmagne,  would  not  allow  his 
daughters,  the  imperial  princesses,  to  wear  any  article  of 
clothing  not  made  entirely  with  their  own  hands,  yet  he 
was  one  of  the  greatest  and  wealthiest  rulers  in  history. 

George  Washington  expressed  the  hope  that  it  would  not 
be  long  before  all  clothing  worn  in  this  country  would  be 
"homespun." 

As  things  are  going  now,  we  are  wasting  far  more  energy, 
time  and  resources  of  every  kind  than  we  are  turning  to 
account,  and  if  this  wildly  reckless  way  of  doing  things 
is  not  checked,  we  will  rush  over  a  veritable  Niagara  of  de- 
struction before  we  know  it.  Excepting  to  newly-arrived 
emigrants  and  their  immediate  descendants,  we  are  without 
thrift  or  economic  methods,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word, 
and  no  amount  of  natural  resources  can  save  us  unless  we 
pay  some  attention  to  the  natural  laws  regulating  the  rela- 
tions between  production  and  consumption,'  for  it  is  useless 
to  try  to  fill  a  barrel  without  a  bottom,  or  to  fill  a  cask  in 
which  the  outlet  is  larger  than  the  supply  pipe,  and  that  is 
just  what  we  have  been  trying  to  do,  until  now  there  is  dis- 
tress and  disturbance  in  industrial  and  economic  conditions 
under  circumstances  which  would  place  any  other  nation  on 
earth  "in  the  lap  of  luxury"  with  no  end  of  available  re- 
sources to  spare. 


116  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

Honest  Judges  Are  Helpless. 

Far  be  it  from  the  writer  to  deny  that  in  these  United 
States  there  are  many  thoroughly,  upright  and  trustworthy 
judges,  but  they  are  so  hemmed  in  by  "precedents"  and 
red  tape  that  they  are  as  helpless  as  Guliver,  when  he 
awoke  in  the  morning  in  the  island  of  "Lilliput"  and  found 
himself  tied  to  the  ground  by  thousands  of  strands  of  sew- 
ing thread.  They  are  like  a  fly  in  a  spider's  web;  they 
may  buzz  and  kick  and  try  to  do  what  is  right,  but  either 
they  will  be  hampered  and  impeded  by  endless  red  tape,  or 
courts  of  appeal  will  nullify  their  efforts  to  administer  jus- 
tice and  render  them  of  no  avail. 

Legal  Precedents  Destructive  of  Justice. 

Technically  speaking,  a  legal  precedent  is  a  decision  by 
a  court  of  last  resort.  If  this  be  the  court  of  last  resort  in 
the  jurisdiction  including  the  trial  court,  it  is  binding  upon 
the  trial  court.  If  ft  be  in  another  jurisdiction,  it  is  con- 
sidered as  an  "authority"  for  the  guidance  of  the  court. 

The  theory  is,  that  a  case  that  the  court  has  passed 
upon  as  a  precedent  or  an  authority,  has  been  care- 
fully studied  by  the  court  that  passed  upon  it,  and  that 
therefore  its  decision  was  probably  correct,  and  in  the  trial 
of  a  case  before  the  court  it  is  not  at  all  unusual  for  the 

trial  judge  to  say,  "Mr. ,  I  do  not  wish  to 

take  up  the  time  of  this  court  in  listening  to  arguments 
upon  this  case,  but  if  you  have  any  authorities,  I  shall  be 
pleased  to  consider  them."  In  a  word,  instead  of  making 
a  direct  application  of  the  half  dozen  or  so  fundamental 
principles  of  law,  under  some  one  of  which  every  case  ever 
tried  could  be  brought,  the  trial  judge,  very  commonly, 
asks  for  the  decisions  in  other  cases  supposed  to  cover  the 


DOWNFALL    OP   THE   GREAT    REPUBLIC  117 

same  point,  and  in  the  practice  of  our  courts  this  is  often 
carried  so  far  that  the  principles  involved  are  entirely  lost 
sight  of,  and  a  decision  is  rendered  because  some  other 
judge  rendered  a  similar  decision  in  a  case  supposed  to  be 
similar,  and  this  following  of  precedents  or  authorities,  has, 
sometimes  been  carried  so  far  as  to  lead  to  the  most  mani- 
fest absurdities,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  case: 
A  man  gave  his  promissory  note  for  a  sum  of  money  owed 
by  him.  Before  the  maturity  of  the  note,  that  is,  before  it 
became  due,  he  paid  it  by  renewal;  took  it  up,  giving  an- 
other note  in  its  place,  and  the  court  held,  that  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  a  new  note,  not  yet  due,  had  been  accepted 
by  the  payee  in  place  of  the  first  note  about  to  become  due, 
the  payee  could  recover  from  the  payor  for  the  amount  of 
the  original  note,  which  had  been  taken  up  and  cancelled, 
and  that  the  payor  had  no  remedy  against  the  payee,  but 
an  action  for  damages  because  the  payee  had  failed  to  live 
up  to  his  contract  under  the  second  note.  And,  strange  as 
this  may  seem  to  the  lay  mind,  the  habit  of  following 
"precedents"  was  so  strong  that  some  fourteen  supreme 
courts  of  various  states  of  the  Union  actually  followed  this 
nonsensical  and  most  unjust  decision,  because  the  first  court 
so  deciding  had  made  a  fool  of  itself  in  the  case.  Happily, 
when  a  similar  case  was  brought  before  the  supreme  court 
of  Minnesota,  the  court  held  that,  in  spite  of  the  long  line 
of  "precedents"  cited  it  could  not  possibly  follow  a  course 
so  manifestly  absurd  and  unjust,  and  the  court  held,  that 
as  the  first  note  had  been  replaced  by  a  new  note,  the  first 
note  no  longer  existed  as  an  obligation,  and  as  the  new 
note  was  not  yet  due,  nothing  could  be  collected  upon  it 
until  maturity.  That  is,  the  supreme  court  of  Minnesota 
upset  all  these  nonsensical  precedents,  and  used  common 
sense  and  justice  in  its  decision. 


118  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

The  slavish  following  of  precedents,  so  much  practiced  in 
many  of  our  courts,  is  for  all  the  world  like  very  young 
children  beginning  their  writing  lessons.  They  begin  by 
attempting  to  copy  the  letters  or  words  at  the  head  of  the 
page  of  their  copy  book;  then  they  copy  from  the  line  they 
have  already  written,  and  each  line  is  copied  from  the  pre- 
ceding one  until  all  resemblance  to  the  original  "copy"  is 
lost,  and  the  errors  become  greater  with  each  succeeding 
line. 

So  it  is  in  following  legal  precedents.  The  first  decision 
in  a  long  line  may  have  some  direct  reference  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  law  involved,  but  the  second  one,  in  following  the 
first,  has  less  direct  reference  to  the  principle  involved, 
relying  rather  upon  the  preceding  decision  than  upon  the 
legal  principle,  until  finally  decisions  are  rendered  without 
the  slightest  reference  to  the  principle  of  law  which  should 
govern  until  it  is  actually  forgotten  and  lost  sight  of,  just 
as  the  child  with  its  copy  book  forgot  all  about  the  letters, 
the  "principles,"  which  it  should  have  kept  ever  in  mind 
and  in  sight. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  119 


CHAPTER  VII. 

HOW  TO  DESTROY  TRUSTS. 

How  the  Executive  Stopped  the  Delays  of  the  Law. 

At  a  beautiful  lake  in  the  Northwest,  for  a  number  of 
years  the  stage  of  water  had  fallen  far  below  the  average, 
on  account  of  a  succession  of  dry  seasons. 

Two  or  three  newcomers  had  purchased  property  during 
this  period  of  low  water,  and  had  made  their  arrangements 
for  it,  but  to  all  the  other  property  owners,  thousands  in 
number,  a  high  stage  of  water  was  of  the  utmost  importance. 
In  fact  their  property  was  of  very  little  market  value  unless 
the  water  was  high. 

Happily,  a  series  of  wet  seasons  brought  the  water  up 
again  to  its  former  high  level,  to  the  great  advantage  of  the 
property  owners,  excepting  the  two  or  three  who  had  fool- 
ishly supposed  that  the  water  would  continue  at  its  un- 
usually low  level. 

The  authorities  in  a  village  on  the  lake  shore  went  to 
considerable  expense  to  protect  the  water  from  overflowing 
its  banks  at  the  lowest  point.  When  one  of  the  two  or  three 
foolish  ones  deliberately  cut  away  the  protecting  embank- 
ment and  caused  the  water  to  run  out  at  a  rapid  rate,  which 
would  soon  have  brought  it  down  again  to  its  very  low 
level,  to  the  serious  financial  loss  of  all  the  other  property 
owners.  The  selfish  and  foolish  few,  not  satisfied  with  cut- 
ting away  the  embankment,  went  into  court,  or  induced 
others  to  do  so,  and  obtained  an  order  of  court  forbid- 


120  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

ding  the  raising  of  the  embankment  to  hold  the  water  up 
to  its  high  stage.  In  the  meantime,  every  minute  the  water 
was  running  away  in  great  quantities,  and  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  recover  what  was  lost,  and  this,  if  allowed  to 
continue,  would  have  resulted  in  irreparable  loss  to  nearly 
all  the  property  owners  on  the  lake  shore,  and  in  the  im- 
mediate vicinity. 

After  the  water  had  been  running  for  a  day  or  two,  the 
president  of  the  village  council  gathered  together  about 
200  men,  and  with  them  went  to  work  and,  within  a  few 
hours,  repaired  the  break  in  the  embankment,  and  put  a 
stop  to  the  flow  of  water  from  the  lake. 

While  this  work  was  going  on,  one  of  the  two  or  three 
who  wished  the  water  to  run  out,  in  spite  of  the  serious 
injury  that  this  would  do  to  nearly  all  the  neighboring  prop- 
erty owners,  came  along  in  his  automobile  and  deliberately 
got  in  the  way  of  the  men  who  were  making  the  repairs  in 
the  break  in  the  embankment,  and  told  them  that  no  more 
of  that  work  should  be  done  while  he  was  there.  But  he 
was  mistaken;  for  several  of  them  promptly  seized  him  by 
the  back  of  the  neck  and  the  slack  of  the  trousers  and 
pitched  him  to  one  side.  He  was  wise  enough  not  to  inter- 
fere again,  and  so  escaped  bodily  harm  which  would  cer- 
tainly have  been  the  result  of  further  molestation  on  his 
part. 

As  far  as  the  writer  knows,  the  lawsuits  over  this  ques- 
tion are  still  pending  in  the  courts,  although  the  event  oc- 
curred several  years  ago,  and  this  is  an  excellent  illustration 
of  the  difference  between  prompt  and  efficient  action  on 
the  part  of  the  executive,  and  the  endless  and  sometimes 
positively  criminal  delays,  on  the  part  of  the  courts.  In 
this  case,  if  the  parties  in  interest  had  waited  for  the 
courts  to  act,  they  might  have  waited  until  now,  without 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  121 

obtaining  any  relief,  while  the  matter  was  being  contested 
in  the  courts,  and  a  number  of  appeals  and  new  trials  were 
being  carried  through.  This  is  one  of  those  cases  in  which 
"justice  delayed"  would  have  been  "justice  denied." 

Col.  Cody  (Buffalo  Bill)  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace 
while  living  on  his  ranch,  on  the  Platte  river  in  Nebraska, 
and  it  is  related  of  him  that  one  day  a  man  came  rushing  in 
to  see  him  and  told  him  that  a  man  had  run  away  with 
one  of  his  horses,  and  that  he  wanted  Cody  to  make  out  a 
writ  of  replevin  ordering  the  return  of  the  horse.  Bill 
asked  him  which  way  the  man  had  gone  with  the  horse, 
and  upon  being  told  he  grabbed  his  rifle,  jumped  on  his 
own  horse  and  told  the  other  man  to  come  along  with  him 
to  identify  his  horse,  to  which  he  replied,  "But  you  must 
make  out  a  writ  of  replevin."  Bill  said,  "Don't  you  want 
your  horse?"  The  other  said,  "Yes;  but  you  must  make 
out  a  writ  of  replevin  first. ' '  To  which  Bill  said,  ' '  You  come 
along  with  me  quick."  So  they  both  rode  after  the  man 
who  had  taken  the  horse,  and  when  they  had  caught  up 
with  him,  Bill  covered  him  with  his  rifle  and  told  him  to 
give  up  the  horse  that  he  was  leading.  As  the  thief  knew 
that  he  was  in  the  wrong  and  had  no  defense  to  make,  he 
was  glad  enough  to  let  the  horse  go,  as  a  means  of  getting 
away  himself,  and  that  is  all  there  was  to  Bin's  writ  of 
replevin. 

Now  under  the  ordinary  practice  of  the  courts;  first,  a 
writ  would  have  been  drawn  up.  with  an  affidavit,  duly 
sworn  to ;  while,  in  the  meantime  the  man  who  had  taken 
the  horse  would  be  making  good  his  escape.  Then,  if  he 
was  finally  served  with  the  writ  and  disputed  the  owner- 
ship of  the  horse,  by  giving  bond,  for  the  delivery  of  the 
horse,  if  he  was  finally  beaten  in  the  courts,  after  all  the 
hearings  and  appeals  had  been  decided ;  and  during  all  that 


122  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

time  the  owner  would  be  out  of  the  use  of  his  horse,  and 
at  the  expense  of  employing  a  lawyer  to  carry  on  the  pro- 
ceedings for  him. 

Then,  when  the  case  came  on  for  trial,  there  would  prob- 
ably be  a  week's  delay  before  it  was  tried;  then  there 
might  be  two  or  three  appeals  and  new  trials,  all  of  which 
might  easily  cost  the  owner  of  the  horse  all,  or  more  than 
it  was  worth;  and  even  if  he  collected  damages  from  the 
man  who  had  taken  the  horse,  the  trouble  and  loss  of  time 
would  still  be  a  more  or  less  serious  loss  to  him. 

Buffalo  Bill  cut  all  this  short  by  simply  chasing  up  the 
man  with  the  horse  and  making  him  turn  it  over  to  the 
owner,  and  if  he  had  disputed  the  ownership  of  it,  most 
likely  it  would  not  have  taken  Bill  five  minutes  to  decide 
that  question  fairly  and  justly.  This  is  true  justice,  with- 
out the  red  tape  and  endless  loss  of  time  that  too  often 
makes  even  a  favorable  decision  cost  much  more  than  it  is 
worth,  and  puts  it  quite  beyond  the  reach  of  anyone  without 
money  to  pay  a  lawyer  and  the  many  incidental  expenses 
of  lawsuits. 

In  Plutarch's  Lives,  mention  is  made  of  a  judge  who 
spent  most-  of  his  time  in  settling  disputes  out  of  court,  and 
so  saved  endless  expense  and  trouble  to  persons  who  would 
otherwise  have  had  much  trouble  and  tribulation  from  law- 
suits, and  the  writer  is  personally  acquainted  with  a  jus- 
tice of  the  peace  who  settles  most  questions  that  are  brought 
before  him  out  of  court,  although  every  case  so  settled 
makes  him  lose  his  fees  for  trying  the  cases.  Unhappily 
such  men  as  these  are  rare,  yet  they  could  do  more  good 
than  all  the  courts  in  the  country  as  now  constituted  and 
conducted. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  123 

Delays  of  the  Law. 

Lawyers  are  now  so  accustomed  to  the  endless  delays  of 
the  law  that  they  actually  no  longer  know  that  they  are 
being  delayed.  Quite  recently,  a  statement  from  a  prose- 
cuting attorney  was  published,  in  which  he  said:  "There 
will  be  no  delay  in  this  case.  It  will  be  set  for  trial  in  about 
two  weeks."  Of  course,  heaven  alone  knows  how  long  after 
that  it  would  be  tried.  In  the  meantime  the  poor  devil 
accused  of  an  offense  was  waiting  in  jail;  possibly  to  be 
later  discharged  as  innocent,  after  waiting  in  jail  for 
months,  for  his  trial.  Why  was  not  that  case  tried  within 
two  hours,  instead  of  waiting  months  for  trial?  The 
wretched  delays  are  mainly  due  to  a  worn-out  system,  often 
worse  than  useless. 

The  Executive  Alone  Competent  to  Deal  With  Trusts. 

Some  years  ago  when  the  writer  was  in  San  Francisco, 
while  two  Italian  fishermen  were  fishing  in  the  bay  of  San 
Francisco,  one  of  them  felt  an  unusually  heavy  pull  at  his 
line  and  he  rejoiced  in  the  thought  that  he  must  have 
caught  a  fine  large  fish.  But  as  he  hauled  in  his  line  his 
joy  was  changed  to  terror  when  he  saw  the  tentacles  of  a 
great  octopus,  or  devil-fish,  appear  over  the  side  of  the  boat 
and  felt  them  clasped  around  him,  like  eight  snakes,  drag- 
ging him  irresistably  towards  the  side  of  the  boat,  while  its 
horrid  big  eyes  glared  at  him,  and  its  great,  beak-like 
mouth  was  opened  to  seize  him.  At  his  agonized  cry  for 
help,  his  partner  saw  his  danger  and  rushed  to  his  assist- 
ance, but  in  an  instant  some  of  the  tenticles,  eight  feet 
long,  were  reached  out  to  grasp  him  also.  Leaping  back, 
just  in  time  to  escape  being  seized  like  his  companion,  he 
grasped  an  ax,  and  with  a  well  directed  blow  on  the  head 


124  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

he  stunned  the  monster,  and  he  and  his  companion  then 
succeeded  in  killing  it  and  dragging  it  into  the  boat.  It 
was  taken  ashore  in  triumph  and  the  writer  saw  it  hanging 
upon  the  wall  of  a  building,  with  its  eight  great  snake-like 
arms,  measuring,  when  extended,  more  than  sixteen  feet 
across. 

Only  a  sharp,  swift  and  sure  blow  of  the  ax  saved  the 
two  fishermen,  and  an  instant's  delay  would  have  been 
fatal  to  both  of  them.  Had  they  waited  for  an  act  of  the 
city  council  of  San  Francisco,  providing  that  in  such  cases 
an  octopus  should  be  destroyed  by  the  proper  officer  of  the 
law,  after  due  notice  had  been  given,  they  would  have  been 
crushed  to  death,  and  their  blood  sucked  dry  by  the  oc- 
topus long  before  the  proper  proceedings  could  even  have 
been  begun. 

When  the  industries  and  sources  of  supply  of  a  great  na- 
tion are  being  enveloped  by  the  snake-like  tentacles  of  un- 
lawful combinations  of  capital,  and  are  being  dragged  over- 
board to  destruction,  legislators  and  courts  are  as  power- 
less to  remedy  the  evil  as  the  city  council  and  police  force 
of  San  Francisco  would  have  been  to  save  the  two  Italian 
fishermen  from  the  octopus  in  the  bay  of  San  Francisco. 

When  the  great  Norman  warrior,  Eobert  Guiscard,  un- 
dertook to  punish  one  of  his  brothers  for  opposing  his 
policy  in  Italy,  he  labored  under  the  disadvantage  of  having 
always  to  march  around  outside  of  the  walls  of  his  brother's 
city  to  deliver  an  attack  while  the  brother  invariably  made 
the  short  cut  through  the  streets  of  the  city  inside  the  walls 
and  was  always  beforehand  with  his  forces  concentrated 
at  whatever  point  his  brother  Robert  gathered  his  storming 
party,  thus  insuring  his  safety  from  attack. 

Unlawful  combinations  of  capital  are  always  controlled 
by  despotic  power  which  can  act  even  more  quickly  than 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  125 

the  Guiscard  brother  within  the  walls  of  his  city  and  can 
therefore  always  outmaneuvre  the  civil  authorities  so  long 
as  they  endeavor  to  act  through  the  slow-moving  machinery 
of  legislatures  and  courts  whose  movements  cannot  compare 
in  celerity  with  the  unsuccessful  operations  of  Robert  Guis- 
card outside  the  city  walls  against  his  rebellious  brother, 
even  when  the  courts  have  recourse  to  their  most  peremp- 
tory writs,  injunctions  and  mandamus,  for  long  before  the 
legislative  and  judicial  powers  have  unravelled  their  miles 
and  miles  of  red  tape  and  are  ready  to  deliver  their  deadly 
thrust  at  the  trust,  it,  with  its  perfect  organization,  con- 
trolled by  one  master  hand,  has  simply  "side-stepped" 
and  is  not  there  when  the  blow  is  delivered.  The  case  is 
as  hopeless  as  that  of  a  terrier  who  makes  a  rush  at  a  flock 
of  sparrows  whenever  they  alight,  for  they  are  always  gone 
by  the  time  he  reaches  the  spot  where  they  were  a  moment 
before. 

So  that  even  assuming  that  the  legislative  arm  of  the 
government  is  above  prejudice  or  corruption,  and  that  the 
courts  endeavor  to  administer  evenhanded  justice  without 
fear  or  favor,  it  becomes  clearly  a  case  of  "shutting  the 
barn  door  after  the  horse  has  escaped." 

When  an  iceberg  loomed  up  through  the  fog  straight  ahead 
of  the  transatlantic  liner  Normannia  of  the  Hamburg- Amer- 
ican line  on  her  maiden  trip  old  Captain  Hediger  had  not 
an  instant  to  look  up  the  rules  applicable  in  such  cases,  not 
a  second  in  which  to  consult  his  officers  or  give  warning  to 
the  hundreds  of  passengers  whose  lives  depended  upon  him. 
Instant  action  was  imperative  and  he  acted  forthwith. 
With  the  huge  ship  heading  straight  for  the  towering  berg 
he  signalled  for  a  full  head  of  steam  forward,  then  reverse 
one  propeller.  Thus,  with  one  propeller  driving  ahead  and 
the  other  backing,  the  vessel  swung  in  a  curve  which  would 


126  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

otherwise  have  been  a  crash  which  would  have  split  her 
from  stem  to  stern,  it  now  became  merely  a  scrape  against 
the  berg  and  all  hands  were  saved. 

When  the  captain  of  the  ship  of  state,  the  executive,  sights 
an  iceberg  dead  ahead,  whether  it  be  Standard  Oil,  the  Beef 
Trust,  the  Steel  Trust,  the  Coal  Trust  or  any  other,  or  the 
ship  is  driving  before  the  hurricane  of  disorder  caused  by 
the  disturbance  of  industrial  conditions,  and  is  rushing  upon 
the  rocks  of  strikes  and  violence  with  all  their  attendant 
evils  and  untold  misery  for  countless  thousands  of  helpless 
women  and  children  and  the  stagnation  and  partial  destruc- 
tion of  entire  industries,  then  it  is  of  no  use  to  turn  to 
courts  and  legislatures  any  more  than  it  would  have  been 
when  Abraham  Lincoln  assumed  the  dictatorship  at  the  time 
of  our  greatest  national  peril. 

Under  such  conditions  the  captain  on  the  bridge,  the  ex- 
ecutive, by  prompt  and  decisive  action  alone,  can  save  the 
ship  of  state  from  the  horrors  of  shipwreck. 

The  blow  of  the  ax  alone,  swift,  sharp  and  sure,  will  suf- 
fice to  destroy  the  octopus. 

Action  cannot  be  too  prompt  and  too  arbitrary,  provided 
only  that  it  be  just. 

The  leaders,  and  not  the  subordinates,  must  be  treated 
just  exactly  like  incendiaries  trying  to  fire  a  town  or  a  burg- 
lar caught  in  the  act.  Where  those  leaders,  whether  of 
trusts  or  of  rioters,  are  openly  and  flagrantly  disregarding 
the  provisions  of  law  and  trampling  the  rights  of  others 
under  foot,  why  waste  time  upon  red  tape  until  they  have 
made  good  their  escape. 

In  time  of  a  great  pestilence,  famine  or  fire,  the  executive 
preserves  order,  declaring  martial  law  if  necessary,  distrib- 
utes supplies  until  normal  conditions  have  been  restored. 


DOWNFALL    OP   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  127 

If  another  great  coal  or  other  strike  should  occur,  why  al- 
low a  few  men  to  stand  between  the  people  and  the  public 
good,  or  the  public  necessity.  Why  not  fulfill  the  highest 
office  of  the  executive  and  administer  justice  by  administer- 
ing these  properties  as  a  matter  of  common  justice  and  pub- 
lic necessity. 

The  duty  and  the  necessity  for  the  exercise  of  the  most 
arbitrary  power  by  the  executive  in  times  of  public  need, 
such  as  great  strikes  or  other  industrial  disturbances,  is 
a  conviction  which  the  writer  has  heard  expressed  on  the 
shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  in  the  south,  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  in  many  other  parts  of  the  Union,  and  there  is  a 
constantly  and  rapidly  growing  demand  for  it. 

Were  it  not  for  the  incalculable  benefits  resulting  from 
the  work  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the 
U.  S.  Geological  Survey  in  developing  our  natural  resources 
by  improved  methods  of  agriculture  and  the  reclamation  of 
waste  lands  by  drainage  and  irrigation,  the  trusts  and  com- 
bines would  long  ago  have  reduced  this  country  to  hope- 
less bankruptcy. 

How  to  Destroy  Trusts. 

Trusts  have  no  legal  existence :  Are  incapable  of  sueing 
or  being  sued:  Can  not  hold  property  and  have  no  legal 
rights. 

The  word  trust  as  now  generally  used  refers  to  a  cor- 
poration which  habitually  violates  the  laws  of  the  land  in 
its  business  methods. 

Every  lawyer  knows  that  a  corporation  has  no  rights  or 
powers  whatever,  and  can  have  none,  excepting  as  expressly 
granted  to  it  by  the  law  under  which  it  came  into  existence. 
It  therefore  follows  that  an  unlawful  corporation  is  a  legal 
and  logical  impossibility,  consequently  an  organization, 


128  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

whether  originally  incorporated  or  not,  whose  purpose  and 
methods  are  contrary  to  law,  is  absolutely  without  legal 
rights,  and  where  the  organization  is  in  direct  violation  of 
statutary  law,  which  is  the  case  with  every  trust  or  monop- 
oly in  the  country  today,  it  is  clearly  a  legal  nonentity,  and 
has  no  existence  which  can  be  directly  or  indirectly  recog- 
nized by  any  court  of  law  or  equity. 

How  a  St.  Louis  Plumber  Beat  the  Beef  Trust. 

This  was  expressly  decided  some  time  ago  in  a  Missouri 
case  where  a  trust  brought  suit  to  recover  $450.00  from  a 
plumber  for  goods  sold  to  him.  He  set  up  the  defense  that 
as  the  supreme  court  of  Missouri  had  decided  that  the 
plaintiff  was  a  trust  it  was  incapable  of  bringing  suit  to 
recover  the  price  of  the  goods  sold,  and  could  have  no  stand- 
ing in  court,  and  upon  this  showing  the  trial  court  very 
properly  dismissed  the  suit. 

In  the  case  referred  to  below  also  the  trial  court  sustain- 
ed the  principle  of  law  involved  in  this  question. 

NO  TRUST  CAN  SUE. 

International  Harvester  Company  Must  Disprove  Allegation 
Before  It  Can  Recover. 

Charlotte,  Mich.,  Feb.  7,  1910.— "That  the  International 
Harvester  company  has  no  standing  in  the  courts  of  Mich- 
igan, unless  it  can  prove  that  it  is  not  a  trust,  was  the  de- 
cision of  Judge  Clement  Smith  of  the  Eaton  county  circuit 
court  today. 

The  harvester  company  had  brought  suit  to  collect  a  note 
and  book  account  against  two  Grand  Ledge  implement  deal- 
ers, whose  attorney  contended  that  the  plaintiff,  being  an 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  129 

alleged  trust,  had  no  right  to  prosecute  in  this  state.  The 
judge  in  discharging  the  jury,  and  virtually  throwing  the 
case  out  of  court,  said: 

' '  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  defense,  if  it  can  be  made 
out,  is  a  perfect  defense  in  this  case." 

Every  lawyer  or  law  student  with  even  primary  know- 
ledge of  law  knows  that  an  association  contrary  to  law  is 
absolutely  incapable  of  holding  title  to  property  for  the 
reason  that  such  a  concern  has  no  legal  existence  and  can 
not  be  recognized  in  any  way  in  any  court. 

It  is  equally  well  known  that  property  without  an  owner 
escheats  to  the  state :  Therefore  it  follows,  without  any 
possibility  of  doubt  or  room  for  dispute,  that  all  property 
held  by  trusts  is,  ipso  facto,  the  property  of  the  state,  who 
is  entitled  to  immediate  possession  of  all  such  property. 

The  legal  conclusion  is  as  certain  as  that  two  and  two 
are  four,  or  any  other  self-evident,  logical  or  legal  fact, 
that  corporations  which  come  under  the  definition  of  trusts 
or  unlawful  combinations  in  restraint  of  trade  cannot  be 
fined  or  made  the  subject  of  any  other  legal  proceedings 
that  in  any  way  recognize  their  existence,  although  the 
individuals  guilty  of  violation  of  law,  having,  as  individ- 
uals, an  unmistakable  legal  existence,  may  be  punished. 

Further,  all  the  presumptions  of  law  are  against  a  corpor- 
action;  that  is  to  say,  its  legal  existence  cannot  be  assumed 
as  a  proposition  of  law,  or  as  a  matter  of  what  is  called 
"judicial  notice"  by  a  court  but  in  order  to  have  any  stand- 
ing in  court  either  as  plaintiff  or  defendant,  a  corporation 
must  affirmatively  show  its  valid  legal  existence. 

It  therefore  follows  that  the  only  legal  and  logical  way  to 
proceed  in  court  against  a  trust  is  by  "quo  warranto"  to  ob- 
tain a  ruling  of  the  court  that  the  trust  has  no  corporate  or 
other  legal  existence.  This  having  been  done,  the  property 


130 

of  the  trust  being  without  any  legal  owner  escheats  to  the 
state  which  should  take  possession  of  it,  no  further  pro- 
ceeding being  necessary  than  to  show  that  the  property 
was  held  by  the  trust. 

It  cannot  for  a  moment  be  maintained  that  the  property 
of  a  trust  upon  a  finding  by  the  court  that  it  is  a  trust,  and 
therefore  without  legal  entity  or  capacity  to  hold  property, 
must  revert  to  the  original  owners  of  the  property  who  com- 
pose the  trust,  as  this  would  be  in  direct  violation  of  a  fun- 
damental principle  of  law  that  "No  one  shall  profit  by  his 
own  wrong,"  although  any  individual  is  entitled  to  re- 
cover any  property  that  has  passed  from  his  possession  into 
that  of  the  trust,  as  no  title  could  pass,  provided  that  he 
was  not  a  particeps  criminis  with  the  trust,  or  a  party  to 
its  violation  of  the  law. 

No  one  can  be  legally  compelled  to  pay  for  any  property 
received  from  a  trust,  nor  is  he  liable  for  any  offense 
against  a  trust,  for  as  it  has  no  existence  in  law  no  offense 
against  it  is  possible,  such,  for  instance,  as  appropriating 
its  property  anywhere  that  he  may  find  it,  for  in  such  a  case 
he, is  in  exactly  the  same  position  as  one  who  finds  a  stray 
cow  or  horse  for  whom  the  owner  cannot  be  found,  for  it 
can  never  be  legally  proven  that  a  trust  is  the  owner  of 
anything. 

The  state  having  shown  by  quo  warranto  proceedings 
that  an  organization  or  combination  is  a  trust,  and  there- 
fore without  legal  rights  or  existence,  may  very  properly 
offer  as  rewards  a  sufficient  portion  of  the  property  held  by 
the  trust  to  put  the  entire  population  on  the  hunt  for  it 
wherever  it  may  be  found  or  concealed. 

It  can  not  be  set  up  as  a  legal  defense  that  property  of 
the  trust  has  passed  from  the  possession  of  the  trust  to 
that  of  the  individuals  composing  it,  and  is  therefore  not 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  131 

subject  to  seizure  as  having  escheated  to  the  state,  as  this 
would  be  exactly  equivalent  to  an  attempt  to  show  that 
stolen  property  could  not  be  recovered  because  it  had  pass- 
ed from  the  possession  of  a  gang  of  thieves  to  the  posses- 
sion of  individual  members  of  the  gang;  it  would  be  a  dis- 
tinction without  a  difference. 

The  state  may  therefore  follow  up  the  funds  of  a  trust 
into  the  private  bank  account  or  safe  deposit  accumulations 
of  a  member  of  a  trust  and  take  possession  of  them  as 
property  having  escheated  to,  and  therefore  belonging  to, 
the  state. 

The  foregoing  involve  no  revolutionary  theories  or  sug- 
gestions, but  are  merely  expressions  of  legal  principles  so 
well  known  as  to  be  beyond  dispute,  some  of  which,  such 
as  the  one  that  an  unlawful  corporation  is  a  legal  and  log- 
ical impossibility,  and  that  an  organization  contrary  to  law 
is  without  legal  rights  and  cannot  legally  be  recognized 
by  any  court,  involve  principles  so  fundamental  that  no 
court  or  legislature  is  capable  of  changing  or  in  any  way 
modifying  them,  as  they  are  founded  upon  eternal  princi- 
ples of  logic  and  natural  law  which  are  above  all  courts  and 
legislatures. 

As  the  trusts  are  seldon  or  never  producers  of  the  com- 
modities that  they  handle,  but  are  merely  thieves  of  the 
legitimate  profits  of  the  producers,  the  taking  over  by  the 
state  of  their  accumulations  would  in  no  way  interfere 
with  any  legitimate  business,  but  would  result  in  diverting 
back  into  their  legitimate  channels  the  profits  that  have 
been  stolen  by  the  trusts,  and  in  the  possesssion  by  the  state 
of  property  which  rightfully  belongs  to  it  and  which  could 
be  readily  disposed  of  if  not  deemed  desirable  to  retain 
control  and  possession  of  it. 


132  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

We  have  become  so  accustomed  to  the  existence  of  un- 
lawful trusts  for  a  number  of  years  past  that  we  are  apt  to 
assume  that  they  have  some  property  rights,  although  their 
existence  involves  no  rights  whatever,  but  wrongs  only. 

How  Two  Young  Men  Got  Ahead  of  the  Flour  Trust. 

It  is  related  that  two  young  men  bought  out  a  flour  mill, 
went  into  business  and  had  soon  built  up  a  good  trade,  when 
they  found  that  the  agents  of  the  flour  trust  were  cutting 
prices.  They  met  the  cut,  which  was  soon  followed  by 
others  which  they  also  met  until  the  price  had  gone  down 
to  a  point  where  the  flour  must  be  sold  at  a  loss. 

After  talking  the  matter  over  the  young  men  went  to  the 
dealers  who  were  buying  from  the  trust  and  told  them  that 
they  wished  to  buy  quantities  of  flour  from  them  and  that 
they  would  keep  them  supplied  with  the  money  to  buy  it 
so  that  they  would  run  no  risk  whatever.  They  then  sold 
this  trust  flour  in  territory  where  the  trust  had  made  no 
cut  in  prices,  at  lower  figures  than  the  trust  was  selling  it 
for,  and  realized  a  good  profit  on  the  sales,  while  in  the 
mean  time  they  .continued  to  grind  flour  in  their  own  mill 
and  store  it  without  selling  any  of  it. 

After  this  had  continued  a  little  while  the  agents  of  the 
trust  reported  to  their  masters  that  the  young  men  had 
stopped  selling  their  flour.  The  trust,  probably  conclud- 
ing that  they  had  been  driven  out  of  business,  put  their 
flour  up  to  the-  old  price.  The  young  men  then  at  once 
unloaded  at  a  good  profit  all  the  flour  from  their  mill 
that  they  had  accumulated  during  the  cut.  This  was  im- 
mediately followed  by  another  cut  by  the  trust  which  was 
met  by  the  young  men  as  before,  who  held  their  own  flour, 
bought  trust  flour  at  the  cut  rates  through  their  secret 
agents  and  sold  it  at  a  good  profit. 


DOWNFALL    OP   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  133 

After  this  proceeding  had  been  repeated  a  number  of 
times,  the  young  men  always  holding  their  flour  during 
every  cut,  and  buying  the  trust  flour  at  the  cut  prices  and 
making  money  by  selling  it  where  no  cut  was  being  made, 
an  agent  of  the  trust  came  to  them  and  offered  to  buy  out 
their  business  to  which  they  answered  that  as  they  were 
making  plenty  of  money  they  had  no  desire  to  sell  out. 
The  agent  then  threatened  to  " freeze"  them  out,  but  they 
laughed  at  him  and  told  him  to  "cut  loose"  as  soon  as  he 
liked,  that  they  were  ready  for  him. 

After  these  negotiations  had  been  repeated  several  times 
the  young  men  consented  to  sell  out  for  $250,000  to  which 
the  agent  was  finally  compelled  to  agree,  after  having  pro- 
tested that  he  did  not  propose  to  be  "held  up"  in  that  way, 
but  as  there  seemed  nothing  to  prevent  the  young  men  from 
going  on  for  ever  as  they  had  been  doing  the  trust  was 
compelled  to  give  them  their  price. 

How  the  Farmers  Broke  the  Local  Fuel  Trust. 

A  railroad  running  through  a  prairie  country,  located 
manj7  settlers  along  its  line,  with  an  express  promise  that 
the  company  would  supply  them  with  wood  for  fuel  at  mod- 
erate prices,  but  after  getting  them  established  on  the  land, 
the  agents  of  the  company  absolutely  refused  to  sell  them 
any  wood,  saying  that  it  was  all  needed  for  the  locomotives. 
As  the  cold  weather  was  coming  on,  one  big.  husky 
farmer  called  upon  the  agent  and  told  him  that  he  came 
to  get  some  wood :  and  upon  being  refused,  he  told  the 
agent  that  he  was  going  to  take  it  anyhow;  that  he  was 
ready  to  pay  for  it,  but  would  take  it  in  spite  of  him. 

The  agent  kept  the  telegraph  wires  to  the  company's 
headquarters  hot  while  the  farmer  loaded  up  the  wood.  As 


134 

there  appeared  to  be  no  choice,  the  agent  was  instructed 
to  take  pay  for  the  wood. 

After  that  the  farmers  came  in  in  procession  and  took 
what  wood  they  required,  paying  for  it  as  they  took  it,  and 
so  the  local  fuel  trust  was  broken. 

A  member  of  an  engineering-  party  to  which  the  writer 
belonged  was  less  conscientious  than  the  farmers,  and  sim- 
ply went  with  a  teamster  after  dark  and  hauled  away  what 
wood  the  party  was  in  need  of  without  taking  the  trouble 
to  pay  for  it. 

How  the  Farmers  Broke  the  Local  Combine. 

In  a  certain  farming  district  of  the  Northwest,  the  ele- 
vator company  and  the  local  bank  and  store  had  combined 
to  rob  the  farmers. 

By  charging  exorbitant  prices,  the  elevator  agent  and 
storekeeper  got  the  farmers  into  debt,  and  the  local  bank, 
which  had  mortgages  or  chattel  mortgages  against  most 
of  them,  was  charging  outrageous  rates  of  interest,  and 
by  threatening  to  foreclose,  kept  them  from  buying  from 
mail-order  houses  that  would  have  sold  to  them  for  much 
lower  prices. 

Finally  they  sent  for  one  who  had  often  represented  them 
before  the  legislature  and  elsewhere,  and  he  came  at  once 
and  notified  the  banker  that  if  he  attempted  to  foreclose 
against  any  one  of  them,  he  would  obtain  for  them,  at  much 
lower  rates  of  interest  than  they  were  paying,  all  the  money 
required  to  pay  off  every  mortgage,  and  that  the  bank 
would  then  have  to  close  its  doors. 

He  then  went  to  the  storekeeper  with  a  list  of  prices 
from  a  mail-order  house  and  told  him,  that  unless  he  met 
those  prices,  not  another  dollar's  worth  of  goods  would  be 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  135 

bought  from  his  store,  as  they  would  all  buy  direct  from  the 
mail-order  houses.  He  then  told  the  elevator  agent,  that 
if  he  overcharged  the  farmers  any  more,  they  would  ship 
direct  upon  the  cars,  as  he  had  made  an  arrangement  with 
J.  J.  Hill  by  which  this  could  be  done.  As  these  gentle- 
men ( ?)  knew  perfectly  well  that  everything  that  they  were 
told  would  be  carried  out  to  the  letter,  if  they  did  not 
mend  their  ways  forthwith;  they  had  no  choice  but  to  do 
so,  and  this  broke  the  local  combine  of  the  banker,  the 
storekeeper  and  the  elevator,  which  had  been  robbing  the 
farmers. 

How  J.  J.  Hill  Helped  the  Farmers  Break  the  Elevator  Trust. 

In  the  Northwest,  for  years,  the  farmers  had  been  at  the 
mercy  of  an  elevator  trust  which  had  robbed  them  without 
mercy.  Finally  their  representative  called  upon  J.  J.  Hill 
personally  and  explained  to  him  the  state  of  affairs.  Mr. 
Hill  was  shrewd  enough  to  know  that  anything  that  injured 
the  farmers  would  injure  his  business  as  a  railroad  man, 
and  he  promptly  answered  that  his  business  was  with  the 
farmers,  and  that  if  the  elevators  were  hurting  them,  he 
was  ready  to  deal  with  the  farmers  direct.  It  was  ac- 
cordingly arranged  that  the  farmers  would  be  furnished 
cars  into  which  they  could  load  their  grain  without  using 
an  elevator,  whenever  they  felt  that  they  were  not  being 
fairly  treated  by  the  elevators.  The  line  elevators  made  a 
hard  fight  against  this,  but  Mr.  Hill  saw  what  was  to  his 
interest,  and  he  stood  by  the  farmers,  and  this  broke  the 
power  of  the  elevator  trust,  and  now  most  of  the  elevators 
in  the  Northwest  are  owned  by  the  farmers  themselves,  and 
have  on  them,  in  immense  letters,  "  Farmers  Elevator.'" 


136  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

How  the  Farmers  Broke  Up  the  Grain  Trust. 

Some  years  ago.  in  Kansas,  the  grain  trust  had  driven  all 
competitors  out  of  business,  had  acquired  entire  control  of 
the  wheat  business  in  that  part  of  the  country  and  had  put 
the  prices  of  grain  down  far  below  the  market  prices.  Then 
the  farmers  got  together  for  mutual  protection;  employed 
one  of  the  shrewdest  grain  dealers  that  they  could  find; 
brought  him  down  from  Chicago  to  look  after  their  inter- 
ests; rented  the  idle  elevator  in  the  town  where  they  be- 
gan operations,  and  which  had  been  driven  out  of  business 
by  the  trust;  then  the  fight  for  existence  began. 

The  trust  advanced  the  price  of  grain  several  cents  above 
the  market  price,  thinking  by  that  means  to  put  the  rival 
elevator  out  of  business. 

The  farmers  who  controlled  the  elevator  that  was  com- 
peting with  the  trust  were  puzzled  and  worried,  and  went 
to  the  manager  of  their  elevator,  told  him  that  they  could 
get  higher  prices  for  their  grain  from  the  trust  than  they 
could  when  it  passed  through  their  own  elevator,  and  asked 
what  they  should  do  about  it.  Their  manager  promptly 
replied,  why,  by  all  means  sell  your  grain  wherever  you 
can  get  the  highest  price,  but  remember,  that  the  only  ob- 
ject the  trust  has  in  raising  prices  is  to  put  your  elevator 
out  of  business,  after  which  the  prices  of  grain  will  cer- 
tainly be  put  down  to  where  they  were  before ;  therefore 
sell,  at  the  advanced  prices  to  the  trust,  but  always  pay 
your  own  elevator  charges  so  as  to  keep  your  elevator  ready 
for  business  as  soon  as  the  trust  attempts  to  put  prices  down 
again. 

These  tactics  worked  perfectly,  and  the  farmers  not  only 
realized  the  profits  from  the  extra  high  prices  that  the 
trust  was  paying,  but  also  maintained  their  elevator  out  of 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  137 

the  profits,  -without  expense  to  themselves.  A  few  weeks  of 
this  showed  the  trust  that  their  game  was  up,  and  as  they 
were  not  prepared  to  give  the  farmers  a  profit  on  their 
grain  above  the  market  prices  when  they  saw  that  they 
could  no  longer  hope  to  break  down  their  elevator  business, 
they  closed  up  their  own  elevator  which  was  also  taken  in 
hand  by  the  farmers,  and  today  those,  as  well  as  all  ele- 
vators seen  by  the  writer  when  passing  through  Kansas  are 
farmers  elevators,  with  the  words  painted  upon  them  in 
large  letters,  "Farmers  Elevator." 

But  the  farmers  did  not  stop  here;  they  went  to  Chicago, 
New  York  and  Germany,  arranged  for  terminal  facilities 
for  their  grain  in  all  these  places,  and  further,  provided  for 
the  handling  of  their  grain  in  Germany  by  an  association  of 
farmers  there,  who  in  this  way  kept  it  from  coming  into 
competition  with  their  own  grain,  thus  securing  a  complete 
line  of  communications,  all  the  way  from  their  grain  fields 
in  this  country  to  the  consumers  in  Europe. 


138  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Monopolies  Not  All  Bad. 

By  no  meaifs  all  great  corporations  or  combinations  are 
either  unlawful  or  injurious.  Without  discussing  the  legal- 
ity of  the  means  by  which  so  great  a  combination  of  rail- 
way interests  was  brought  about  in  which  our  "Jim  Hill" 
is  now  the  moving  spirit,  the  fact  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
railways  under  the  Hill  management  have  been  a  great  fac- 
tor in  the  development  of  the  country  through  which  they 
run,  for  Hill  has  been  wise  enough,  as  a  business  man,  to 
foster  the  interests  of  the  producers  whose  success  is  the 
only  true  test  of  prosperity,  and  he  has  not  hesitated  to 
turn  down  wheat  rings  and  elevator  rings  and  any  other 
combinations  when  they  came  into  conflict  with  the  pro- 
ducers. 

The  Standard  Oil,  the  great  octopus,  devil  fish,  is  deliver- 
ing petroleum  to  consumers  much  cheaper  than  it  was  sold 
before  the  organization  of  the  great  trust;  but  at  the  same 
time  it  does  not  hesitate  to  crush  out  all  competitors  with- 
out mercy. 

A  Word  For  Department  Stores  and  Trusts. 

There  are  many  persons  who  complain  that  department 
stores  are  constantly  absorbing  the  trade  of  small  dealers, 
destroying  their  independence,  and  drivng  them  out  of  the 
business  world.  This  is  all  true,  and  as  previously  shown, 
is  largely  due  to  the  increasing  facilities  of  rapid  transit, 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  139 

and  the  unjust  discrimination  of  the  transportation  com- 
panies in  favor  of  the  large  dealers.  This  is  especially 
true  of  the  immense  mail-order  business  done  by  the  large 
department  stores,  which  enables  them  to  successfully  com- 
pete with  small  local  dealers  at  a  distance,  and  tends  di- 
rectly to  build  up  the  large  concerns  at  the  expense,  and 
often  by  the  destruction  of  the  small  ones.  It  has  also  been 
shown  how  both  department  stores  and  trusts  could  all  be 
destroyed.  But  to  suppose  that  department  stores  are  some- 
thing new  is  a  great  mistake,  for  they  are  simply  an  ap- 
plication, in  a  modified  form,  of  the  system  of  bazaars  which 
have  prevailed  for  a  long  time  in  Asiatic  and  African  cities, 
where  it  is  customary  to  reserve  one  or  more  portions  of 
every  city,  according  to  whether  it  is  a  large  or  a  small 
place,  exclusively  for  commercial  and  business  purposes, 
and  to  concentrate  all  the  tradesmen  and  craftsmen  of  the 
city  in  these  districts.  A  part,  or  all,  of  a  certain  street 
will  be  occupied  by  all  the  shoemakers  and  dealers ;  another 
by  all  the  jewelers  and  goldsmiths;  another  by  all  the  car- 
pet and  rug  makers;  and  so  of  all  the  different  crafts  and 
branches  of  trade. 

The  points  in  favor  of  a  department  store  are  that  it 
deals  directly  with  the  manufacturers  of  its  various  "goods, 
wares  and  merchandise,"  cutting  out  all  the  middlemen,  and 
as  it  buys  in  immense  quantities,  and  may  pay  spot  cash 
for  all  its  stock,  it  can  obtain  much  better  prices  than  small 
retail  dealers.  On  .the  other  hand,  as  it  usually  sells  ex- 
clusively for  cash,  it  saves  all  the  expense  of  bookkeeping 
for  credit  accounts,  and  all  the  losses  from  bad  accounts, 
commonly  estimated  at  about  one-third  of  the  amount  of 
the  total  sales  of  those  who  give  credit,  which,  when  credit 
is  given,  must  be  made  up  by  those  who  pay  for  what  they 
buy,  and  must  therefore  be  added  to  the  prices  asked  by 


140  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

those  who  give  credit.  Therefore  the  department  store  can 
sell  to  consumers  for  much  less  than  is  possible  for  small 
dealers,  especially  when  those  small  dealers  give  credit 
with  its  consequent  losses. 

Moreover,  department  stores  by  refusing  credit  get  their 
customers  into  the  habit  of  paying  cash  for  their  purchases, 
and  so  tend  to  break  up  the  habit  of  buying  on  credit,  which 
has  led  to  the  ruin  of  so  many. 

Therefore  we  must  concede,  that  in  some  respects,  de- 
partment stores  offer  advantages  to  consumers  which  can- 
not usually  be  given  by  other  and  smaller  dealers. 

Trusts. 

While  trusts',  in  the  bad  sense  of  the  word,  are  always 
unlawful  combinations  in  restraint  of  trade  which  fre- 
quently employ  the  most  shamelessly  criminal  means  to 
break  down  competition,  they  have  the  advantage  of  being 
able  to  employ  specialists  and  experts  in  their  lines,  by 
reason  of  the  very  large  quantities  of  certain  commodities 
handled  by  them,  enabling  them  to  effect  a  saving  of  ex- 
pense, which  is  sometimes,  but  by  no  means  always,  to  the 
advantage  of  the  consumer.  Yet,  in  spite  of  all  their  spe- 
cialization and  expert  work,  the  best  is  never  produced  by 
these  monopolies.  '  The  best  butter  is  always  made  by 
individual  farmers  in  their  home  dairies;  never  in  cream- 
eries. The  finest  hams,  bacon,  dried  beef  and  corned  beef 
are  never  produced  by  packing  houses,  but  always  at  the 
homes  of  farmers.  And  the  same  is  true  of  a  long  list  of 
other  articles. 

On  the  other  hand,  articles  handled  by  trusts  are  not 
always  lower  to  the  producer  and  higher  to  the  consumer 
than  articles  handled  by  independent  concerns.  There  are 
farmers  who  have  received  from  trust  packing  houses  and 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  141 

stockyards  the  highest  prices  ever  paid  for  beef  and  pork; 
yet,  as  herein  shown,  it  depends  entirely  upon  the  farmers 
to  obtain  full  control  of  all  industries  now  in  the  hands  of 
trusts,  if  they  wish  to  do  so. 

While  it  is  not  the  intention  of  the  writer  to  enter  into 
any  defense  of  trusts  or  unlawful  combinations,  it  may  be 
worth  while  to  consider  that  we  may  sometimes  be  greatly 
mistaken  when  we  allow  our  peace  of  mind  to  be  disturbed  by 
exaggerating  or  overestimating  the  evils  of  trusts  in  so  far 
as  they  affect  us  personally. 

As  this  is  about  to  go  to  the  printer,  some  of  the  largest 
business  concerns  in  the  country  have  raised  the  pay  of  all 
their  employees  without  waiting  to  be  asked  to  do  so,  and 
others  have  complied  with  the  law,  too  often  ignored  in 
the  past,  to  make  Sunday  a  day  of  rest,  and  this  will  give 
a  holiday  to  many  thousands  of  men  who  have  heretofore 
been  compelled  to  work  on  Sunday. 

These  are  very  important  steps  in  the  right  direction,  and 
if  this  movement  is  extended  widely  enough  it  will  save 
the  country  from  the  landslide  of  revolution  and  disorder 
which  has  threatened  it  and  it  will  be  of  the  greatest  ben- 
efit to  the  best  interests  of  the  nation,  whether  prompted 
by  motives  of  justice  and  humanity,  or  merely  by  sound, 
common  sense  and  good  judgment  as  a  matter  of  business. 

Envy  of  the  Rich  Is  Polly. 

It  has  been  shown  that  happiness,  or  real  prosperity,  has 
no  necessary  connection  whatever  with  wealth,* as  usually 
understood,  and  that  a  man  with  much  property  may  be 
really  poor,  while  one  with  but  very  little  of  the  goods  of 
this  world  may  be  rich  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word. 
Therefore,  those  who  envy  others  merely  because  they  pos- 
sess great  wealth,  not  unfrequently  envy  persons  who  may 


142  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

have  good  cause  to  envy  those  who  are  possessed  of  much 
less  material  wealth  than  they  are;  moreover,  this  envious 
tendency  may  be  founded  upon  the  greatest  injustice,  for, 
while  it  is  true  that  many  large  modern  fortunes  are  founded 
upon  ill-gotten  gains,  the  mere  possession  of  great  wealth 
by  no  means  necessarily  implies  dishonesty,  for  many  large 
fortunes  have  been  accumulated  by  the  thrift  of  their  own- 
ers during  successive  generations,  without  the  slightest  dis- 
honesty on  the  part  of  their  possessors ;  or  by  the  rise  in  the 
market  price  of  property;  or  simply  by  the  good  manage- 
ment of  their  owners,  without  any  dishonesty.  And,  again, 
in  the  United  States,  there  are  but  few  men  of  large  means 
who  have  not  spent  much  of  their  wealth  for  the  good  of 
their  fellow-beings,  in  one  way  or  another,  and  we  have 
much  cause  to  congratulate  ourselves,  that  in  this  country, 
there  are  but  very  few  misers  in  the  old-world  sense  of  the 
word,  and  even  those  who  have  accumulated  fortunes  by 
questionable  methods,  have  nearly  all  of  them,  expended 
large  sums  for  the  good  of  others  in  various  ways.  Con- 
sequently envy  of  others,  and  especially  of  those  possessed 
of  wealth,  is  one  of  the  most  unreasonable  and  contempti- 
ble of  vices,  and  may  well  destroy  the  happiness  and  peace 
of  mind  of  those  who,  might  otherwise  enjoy  the  greatest 
happiness. 

Thought  Themselves  Rich. 

Two  little  paper  boys  were  standing  in  the  street  one 
very  cold  day,  and  one  remarked  to  the  other,  "Say,  Jimmy, 
it's  awful  cold,  I'm  freezin;  aint  you?"  To  which  the 
other  remarked  quite  scornfully,  "Naw,  I  got  on  a  under- 
shirt." The  poor  little  fellow  felt  rich  with  his  undershirt. 

It  is  related  of  a  poor  woman  that  she  was  in  such  des- 
perate straights  that  she  had  to  take  down  the  door  to 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  143 

cover  her  little  boy  on  a  cold  night,  and  that  the  following 
conversation  took  place:  Little  boy — "Mamma?"  Mother 
—''What,  my  dear?"  Little  boy — "What  do  poor  little 
boys  do  who  have  no  door  to  cover  them?"  While  the 
truth  of  the  latter  story  is  not  vouched  for,  both  of  these 
accounts  point  a  moral. 

Millionaires  Poverty  Stricken. 

The  average  human  being  does  not  seem  to  realize  that 
millionaires  are  almost  always  the  poorest  of  men,  in  con- 
stant distress  for  want  of  money. 

Although  this  may  appear  to  be  a  contradiction,  it  may 
be  readily  seen  to  be  strictly  true,  for  riches  or  poverty 
being  entirely  relative,  a  workman  who  earns  but  $50.00  a 
month,  and  feels  that  his  wants  are  supplied,  is  rich  in  the 
truest  sense  of  the  word,  for  true  riches  consists  entirely  in 
being  able  to  supply  our  wants,  and  from  this  it  follows, 
that  one  who  can  bring  his  wants  within  his  means  of  sup- 
plying them  is  truly  rich.  While,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
man  who  has  many  millions,  but  who  is  straining  every 
nerve,  and  racking  his  brain  to  get  together  other  mil- 
lions with  which  to  obtain  control  of  some  railroad  or  other 
property  that  his  wretched  slavery  to  covetousness  makes 
him  crave  to  possess,  is  a  victim  to  the  most  miserable  pov- 
erty, for  with  all  his  millions  he  cannot  satisfy  his  wants, 
and  is  in  exactly  the  same  pitiful  condition  as  sailors  at 
sea  who  have  run  out  of  fresh  water,  and  although  floating 
in  a  vast  expanse  of  water  all  around  them,  they  cannot 
get  a  drop  to  satisfy  their  thirst.  They  are  like  the  miser 
who  accidentally  got  locked  up  in  his  treasure  vault  and 
starved  to  death  among  his  bags  of  gold;  in  fact,  the  posi- 
tion of  the  covetous  and  dissatisfied  rich  is  about  as  near 
to  hell  upon  earth  as  it  is  possible  to  imagine. 


144  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

And  suppose  that  the  poor  slave  to  covetousness,  after  a 
brain  and  health  and  heart-destroying  strain,  succeeds  in 
getting  possession  of  the  property  that  appeared  so  neces- 
sary to  him;  this  is  but  the  beginning,  for  it  merely  whets 
his  appetite  and  he  quickly  finds  other  things  that  he  feels 
that  he  must  have,  and  it  is  exactly  like  the  craving  for 
strong  drink  in  the  drunkard,  and  like  the  victim  to  strong 
drink,  millionaires  almost  always,  die  miserable  mental  and 
physical  wrecks,  in  the  very  prime  of  life,  and  they  rarely 
live  to  a  hearty  old  age. 

The  writer  always  believed,  that  Jay  Gould,  a  well  known 
speculator  of  the  last  century,  actually  died  of  poverty,  with 
his  estate  of  over  $75,000,000.00,  for  he  had  met  with  some 
unforeseen  opposition  in  his  schemes  for  accumulating 
other  millions,  and  the  want  of  these  other  millions  broke 
the  poor  beggar's  heart,  and  he  died,  and  had  to  relinquish 
all  his  millions. 

Another  man,  personally  well  known  to  the  writer,  met 
with  some  financial  reverses  which  preyed  upon  his  mind 
and  broke  down  his  health,  and  the  poor  fellow  died  of 
poverty  leaving  an  an  estate  of  $3,000,000.00.  The  state  of 
such  men  is  as  hopeless  as  that  of  the  man  who  ran  frantic- 
ally around  a  haystack  in  a  vain  attempt  to  catch  up  with 
his  own  coat-tails,  for  in  the  race  a  man's  wants  will  beat 
his  means  of  supplying  them  every  time,  unless  he  reverses 
the  order  and  brings  his  wants  within  his  means  of  supply- 
ing them;  and  with  all  due  respect  to  those  who  fail  to  do 
this,  they  are  fools,  pure  and  simple,  for  only  a  fool  will 
make  himself  miserable  trying  to  do  what  is  beyond  his 
power,  or  to  use  a  homely  expression,  only  a  fool  "bites 
off  more  than  he  can  chew." 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  145 

It  has  been  somewhat  facetiously  said  that  the  Lord 
shows  what  He  thinks  of  riches  by  the  kind  of  persons  He 
generally  gives  them  to. 

Money  Is  Not,  and  Never  Can  Be,  Wealth. 

Many  persons  strive  "in  season  and  out  of  season"  to 
acquire  a  large  quantity  of  money  under  the  erroneous 
impression  that  with  money  they  will  be  wealthy,  and  some 
of  them  never  find  out  their  mistake,  all  through  life,  al- 
though nothing  could  be  more  plainly  a  very  foolish  mis- 
take. 

At  best,  money  merely  represents  wealth,  but  unfortu- 
nately for  those  who  rely  upon  it,  the  amount  of  wealth 
represented  by  a  given  quantity  of  money  is  as  uncertain 
as  the  winds  that  blow,  and  no  time  could  be  better  than 
the  present  to  show  this  by  actual  illustrations,  which  are 
now  coming  home  very  forcibly  to  everyone. 

A  year  ago,  or  several  years  ago,  the  good  man  of  the 
house  may  have  put  $100.00  in  the  bank  with  the  comfort- 
able feeling  that  it  would  enable  him  to  provide  for  his 
family  during  the  coming  month,  but  now  where  is  he  with 
the  same  amount  of  money?  Of  many  of  the  necessaries  of 
life  the  hundred  dollars  will  not,  today,  buy  the  half  of 
what  it  did  a  few  years  ago,  or  even  a  few  months  ago. 
He  says,  prices  have  gone  up.  Hold  on  there,  a  minute,  my 
good  friend !  Yes,  prices  have  gone  up,  but  have  values 
also  gone  up?  Will  a  pound  of  beef  at  25  cents  go  any 
farther  than  a  pound  of  beef  did  when  you  could  buy  it 
for  121^  cents?  You  sadly  answer,  no,  for  if  your  healthy 
young  family  required  two  pounds  of  beef  for  dinner  when 
it  wras  but  121/2  cents  a  pound,  you  still  have  to  buy  two 
pounds  of  bee,f  when  it  is  25  cents,  or  go  without  it,  as 
many  are  trying  to  do.  Therefore,  a  minute's  study  will 


146  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

show  you  that  while  prices  have  gone  up,  values  have  not, 
for  a  pound  of  beef  is  still  only  a  pound  of  beef  whether 
it  costs  you  12%  cents  or  25  cents.  Now,  what  is  it  that 
has  really  happened  ?  The  purchasing  power  of  your  money 
has  gone  down.  For  all  articles  which  have  doubled  in 
price  your  money  is  worth  just  half  what  it  was  when  you 
could  buy  twice  as  much  as  you  now  can.  It  is  your  money 
that  has  changed  value,  as  far  as  representing  wealth  to 
you,  and  you  feel  this  clearly  enough  even  before  you  have 
found  out  what  is  the  trouble. 

A  pound  of  beef,  a  quart  of  pure  milk,  or  a  bushel  of 
wheat  never  change  their  values,  although  the  market 
prices  run  up  and  down  like  the  mercury  in  a  thermometer. 
It  is  the  purchasing  power  of  the  money  that  has  changed; 
the  money  that  has  changed  value.  Now  please,  never  again 
forget  this.  Things  of  real  value,  never  change  their  value 
while  they  last  in  good  condition,  but  money  is  as  uncer- 
tain as  the  winds.  So  now,  let  no  one  be  so  foolish  as  to 
say  that  money  is  wealth,  or  that  any  dependence  can  be 
placed  upon  it  even  as  representing  wealth,  for  we  have 
seen  that  its  value,  or  purchasing  power,  may  go  up  or 
down  to  any  extent,  just  as  the  trusts  wish  it  to,  as  long  as 
you  are  foolish  enough  to  let  them  run  things,  for  when 
they  wish  to  sell  you  something  they  put  the  price  up,  that 
is,  they  put  the  value  of  your  money  down;  and  when  they 
wish  to  buy  from  you,  they  put  the  price  down ;  that  is,  they 
put  the  value,  or  purchasing  power  of  their  own  money  up. 
Quite  pleasant  to  think  of  for  the  man  who  has  thought  that 
money  was  wealth.  But  for  the  farmer,  the  producer,  who 
has  things  of  real  value,  he  has  real  wealth,  for  as  far  as 
his  comforts  are  concerned,  it  makes  not  a  particle  of  dif- 
ference to  him  whether  the  milk  he  drinks,  the  meat,  the 
eggs,  the  butter  he  eats,  are  up  or  down  as  to  market  prices. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  147 


Eggs  at  12!/£  cents  a  dozen  are  just  as  nourishing,  and 
taste  just  as  good  to  him  as  when  they  are  40  cents  a 
dozen,  and  the  same  is  true  of  everything  that  he  produces. 
While  the  poor  city  man  who  finds  that  $100.00  will  buy  no 
more  today  than  $50.00  would  some  time  ago,  is  just  exactly 
as  badly  off  as  if  someone  had  stolen  $50.00  from  him  out 
of  his  $100.00,  and  this  is,  in  effect,  just  what  has  happened. 
Oh!  no,  dear  friend,  money  is  neither  wealth,  nor  a  repre- 
sentative of  wealth  that  you  can  bank  on  for  even  one  day 
or  night. 

Fads  and  Fashions. 

One  of  the  worst  kinds  of  slavery  is  that  to  fads  and 
fashions.  There  are  many  good  souls  who  are  so  entirely 
wanting  in  personal  independence  that  they  spend  a  con- 
siderable time  in  watching  to,  see  what  others  are  doing  for 
the  purpose  of  following  their  lead,  instead  of  having  some 
ideas  of  their  own,  and  following  them. 

A  certain  family  was  in  the  habit  of  making  daily  notes 
of  what  their  next  door  neighbors  brought  home.  If  a 
new  lamp  or  flower  vase  appeared  in  the  neighbor's  win- 
dow, the  same  was  to  be  seen  in  their  window  as  soon  after- 
wards as  it  could  be  got  home. 

In  like  manner  some  persons  are  ever  on  the  lookout  to 
see  what  is  the  latest  thing  in  dress  or  headgear,  and  no 
matter  how  ridiculous,  unbecoming  or  uncomfortable  it  may 
be,  it  is  bought  at  once,  if  the  money  can  be  raised  for  its 
purchase,  and  but  few  stop  to  reflect  that  fashions  are  con- 
trolled by  one  of  the  most  tyrannical  of  all  trusts,  and  that 
the  sole  purpose  for  changes  of  fashions  is  to  compel  per- 
sons to  buy  new  things  without  regard  to  whether  they 
need  them  or  not,  or  they  must  look  odd  and  "out  of  date." 
In  this  way  fashions  are  so  arranged  as  to  make  the  greatest 


148  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

changes  in  dress  whenever  it  can  be  done,  so  that  articles 
of  wearing  apparel  then  in  use  will  look  as  odd  as  pos- 
sible by  comparison  with  the  newest  fashion. 

This  is  peculiar  to  our  American  and  European  ideas  of 
"enlightenment"  and  is  practically  unknown  in  Asia  and 
Africa,  excepting  among  some  of  the  Japanese,  who  have 
very  foolishly  given  up  their  own  most  sensible  and  com- 
fortable way  of  dressing  to  ape  the  silly,  unmeaning,  and 
often  very  uncomfortable  attire  of  Europeans  and  Ameri- 
cans. 

Before  the  "microbe"  of  silly  fashions  inoculated  the 
Japanese,  they  and  the  Chinese  were  free  from  the  pitiful 
slavery  of  fashions,  and  clothing  was  made  to  wear  well, 
and  it  could  be  worn,  without  making  its  owner  look  odd, 
until  it  was  worn  out,  and  it  was  so  worn,  to  the  very  great 
advantage  of  everyone  who  wore  it. 

In  continental  Europe  the  slavery  of  fashion  is  not  yet 
near  as  bad  as  it  is  in  "the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home 
of  the  brave,"  and  there,  most  fabrics  are  so  durable  that 
they  may  be  worn  for  a  number  of  years,  and  it  is  not  at 
all  uncommon  to  have  them  then  turned  inside  out,  made 
over  again,  .and  worn  for  a  number  of  years  more,  dying 
them  another  color,  if  the  owner  should  wish  for  such  a 
change.  But  in  our  own  land  of  "progress"  care  is  actually 
taken  not  to  make  goods  so  durable  that  economically  dis- 
posed persons  can  wear  them  for  more  than  one  or  two 
seasons  as  a  rule,  even  if  they  wish  to,  and  the  following  is 
related  of  a  glass  manufacturer  to  show  how  this  idea  pre- 
vails of  not  having  articles  of  any  kind  too  durable.  An 
inventor  went  to  a  glassmaker  and  told  him  that  he  had  an 
invention  by  means  of  which  glass  lamp  chimneys  could 
not  be  broken.  The  glassmaker  told  him  that  he  would 
not  use  it  even  if  he  were  paid  $10,000.00  a  year  for  doing 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  149 

so,  for,  he  said,  if  the  lamp  chimneys  did  not  break,  where 
would  my  business  be;  I  want  them  to  break  so  as  to  be 
able  to  sell  more  of  them. 

A  harnessmaker  once  told  the  wrriter  that  in  the  United 
States  leather  of  as  fine  a  quality,  and  as  durable  as  any 
in  the  world  could  be  made,  but  that  the  dealers  did  not 
wish  to  handle  such  durable  leather,  as  it  would  hurt  their 
trade. 

Possibly  one  of  the  worst  of  all  modern  fads  is  the  fear 
of  microbes,  germs  and  bacteria  which  has  taken  posses- 
sion of  many  persons,  otherwise  very  intelligent.  A  seller 
of  patent  medicine  will  send  you  a  "germ"  magnified  a 
thousand  times  and  made  to  look  more  horrible  than  an 
icthyasourus  or  a  mastedon  of  prehistoric  times,  and  good 
fathers  and  mothers  are  tempted  to  lie  awake  nights  for 
fear  some  intruder  will  bring  some  horrible  microbe  to  their 
homes  and  so  infect  their  little  darlings  with  some  awful 
disease,  and  they  entirely  forget  that  probably  ninety-nine 
out  of  a  hundred  germs,  microbes  and  bacteria  are  useful 
and  beneficial  and  that  many  of  them  are  necessary  for 
human  life  and  health,  and  that  in  exceptional  cases  only 
are  they  dangerous  or  injurious. 

It  is  not  the  intention  of  the  writer  to  in  any  way  under- 
rate the  importance  of  the  medical  profession  and  the  in- 
valuable services  rendered  by  its  members  to  the  human 
family,  and  quite  possibly  the  woman  mentioned  in  the  Bible 
who  had  spent  all  her  substance  upon  physicians,  and  was 
no  better,  but  rather  worse,  was  more  sensible  than  some 
persons  who  go  to  the  other  extreme  and  allow  their  chil- 
dren to  suffer,  and  sometimes  actually  die,  rather  than  call 
in  a  physician;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  this  intense  fear  of 
germs,  and  microbes  is  often  carried  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  make  all  germs  and  microbes  a  regular  "boogie  man" 


150  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

more  terrifying  than  the  ghosts  with  tales  of  which  our 
great-grand-parents  used  to  entertain  one  another. 

In  this,  as  in  all  other  matters,  a  little  common  sense  and 
good  judgment  is  most  desirable,  and  nothing  is  more 
foolish  than  to  become  "skittish"  about  such  things,  like 
the  good  woman  of  whom  the  young  man  said,  "I  have  to 
handle  her  carefully,  or  the  old  lady  might  jump  the  track." 

Let  us  not  be  slaves  to  any  "boogie  man"  whether  it  be 
a  silly,  and  useless  fashion,  or  an  unreasoning  fear  of  mi- 
crobes, germs  and  bacteria,  most  of  which,  as  before  stated, 
are  useful,  and  many  of  them  necessary  to  our  very  exist- 
ence. 

To  Prevent  Undervaluation  For  Taxes  and  Customs  Duties. 

Some  of  the  "old  timers"  in  Europe  knew  more  than  we 
do  today,  in  spite  of  all  our  ideas  of  "modern  progress," 
and  they  were  at  least  ready  to  study  problems  as  they  were 
met  with,  and  did  not  think  that  they  "knew  it  all"  with- 
out ever  having  learned  it. 

The  fact  is  we  are  often  in  so  much  of  a  hurry  that  we 
think  we  have  no  time  to  learn  even  our  own  business  as 
we  go  along,  and  the  consequence  is  the  country  is  full  of 
incompetent  workers  in  every  calling  of  life,  and  many  of 
us  have  not  the  slightest  hesitation  in  taking  up  an  occupa- 
tion without  any  preparation  whatever  for  it,  and  most  of 
us  labor  under  the  delusion  that  a  man  can  become  a  states- 
man merely  by  securing  enough  votes  to  elect  him  to  office, 
quite  innocently  forgetting  that  government  is  the  most 
profound  of  all  callings,  requiring  the  utilization  of  every 
known  science,  and  that  even  those  who  have  made  a  life 
study  of  it  cannot  hope  to  succeed  with  it  excepting  by  call- 
ing to  their  aid  the  most  experienced  and  wisest  advisers 
to  be  had,  and  that  is  why  our  progress  in  politics  greatly 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  151 

resembles  that  of  a  runaway  mule,  who  has  broken  loose 
from  his  wagon  and  is  rushing  through  the  streets,  upset- 
ting everything  and  everybody  in  his  way,  and  the  few 
real  statesmen  who  have  gained  some  practical  knowledge 
by  long  experience  and  hard  study,  usually  find  but  little 
sympathy  and  get  but  little  assistance  from  the  "noble 
army"  of  office  seekers  who  do  not  hesitate  to  "tackle" 
the  most  profound  questions  of  economics  and  statesman- 
ship without  having  even  the  most  primary  knowledge  on 
the  subject. 

Here  is  an  illustration  of  the  difference  between  our 
methods  and  those  of  some  of  the  older  nations  of  the 
world. 

With  us,  the  assessment  of  valuations  for  customs  duties 
and 'taxation  are  usually  so  crude  that  there  is  often  not 
the  slightest  suggestion  of  anything  like  system  or  equity 
in  either,  and  the  sharpest  rascal  gets  off  with  little  or  no 
taxes,  or  duties  on  imported  goods,  while  the  honest  man 
pays  for  the  shortcomings  of  the  rascals.  It  will  not  be 
necessary  to  enlarge  upon  this  end  of  the  proposition,  as  it 
is  very  unlikely  that  not  a  single  individual,  who  has  been  in 
this  country  three  years,  can  be  found  who  has  not  per- 
sonally seen  instances  of  this  kind. 

Let  us  compare  this  with  a  plan  employed  by  one  of 
the  "old  countries"  who  are  apt  to  be  considered  far  be- 
hind us  in  everything. 

The  provision  of  law  was  that  everyone  could  place  his 
own  valuation  on  any  article  subject  to  duty  or  taxes;  but 
—this  was  not  quite  all;  he  was  compelled  to  stand  by  his 
valuation,  by  the  proviso  that  if  the  assessor  or  customs 
officer  was  satisfied  that  the  valuation  was  too  low,  and  that 
the  articles  would  be  a  bargain  at  that  figure,  he  was  au- 
thorized to  pay  the  price  and  take  the  property  at  the 


152  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

owners  own  valuation.  Bless  my  heart!  what  fortunes 
could  have  been  made  by  taking  property  at  the  valuations 
given  under  oath  by  some  of  "our  leading  citizens"  within 
the  personal  knowledge  of  the  writer. 

With  asesssors  and  customs  officers,  who  were  either 
fairly  honest  or  at  least  had  .an  "eye  to  business"  suffi- 
ciently to  see  that  it  would  pay  them  far  better  to  buy  up 
property  greatly  undervalued,  than  to  be  bought  off,  what 
a  scampering  there  would  be  among  some  of  our  citizens! 

The  trouble  is  that  some  of  our  officials  never  live  long 
enough  to  find  out  how  little  they  know,  and  for  one  who 
has  not  learned  this,  there  is  but  little  hope  for  improve- 
ment. 

A  man  once  met  a  young  friend  who  had  just  completed 
his  education,  after  having  been  given  all  the  advantages 
that  money  could  buy  him,  by  a  wealthy  father  who  provid- 
ed him  with  private  tutors,  put  him  through  school,  college, 
university  and  post  graduate  courses.  The  friend  asked 
the  young  man  if  he  thought  it  was  worth  all  that  it  had 
cost  his  father.  He  promptly  replied  that  it  was,  for  it  had 
taught  him  what  a  fool  he  was,  and  no  price  could  be  too 
high  to  pay  for  that  knowledge.  He  was  right;  and  large 
fortunes  could  be  spent  upon  many  of  us  too,  to  great  advan- 
tage, with  the  same  laudable  end  in  view. 

In  another  case  a  young  man  had  just  graduated  from  a 
law  school,  with  the  happy  feeling  that  he  had  learned  all 
there  was  to  be  known  about  the  law,  and  he  went  to  call 
upon  an  old  friend  of  his  father's,  who  was  also  an  old 
man,  and  a  judge,  expecting  to  receive  the  old  gentleman's 
congratulations  upon  his  accomplishments  as  a  lawyer  He 
was  a  little  surprised  to  find  the  old  man,  in  his  shirt 
sleeves,  with  coat,  vest  and  collar  off,  poring  over  a  law 
book.  And  he  said  to  him  that  it  seemed  strange  to  him 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  153 

that  a  man  of  his  age  and  professional  standing  should  be 
working  so  late  in  the  evening  on  so  hot  a  night.  The  old 
man  surprised  him  still  more  by  saying,  "Well,  I'm  trying 
to  learn  a  little  something  about  the  law."  This  set  the 
young  man  to  thinking,  and  did  him  a  lot  of  good,  for  he 
very  sensibly  reasoned  that  if  so  old  a  man,  who  had  been 
a  lawyer  and  a  judge  for  so  many  years  deemed  it  neces- 
sary to  try  "to  learn  a  little  something  about  the  law,"  it 
was  just  possible  that  he  himself  had  not  yet  learned  quite 
all  that  there  was  to  be  known  about  it. 


154  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 


CHAPTER  IX. 
A  Hopeful  Prospect. 

What  is  there  to  offset  the  great  rlood  of  existing  greed, 
waste  and  corruption  ?  Thank  God,  there  is  developing  with- 
in our  beloved  native  land,  so  favored  by  Divine  Providence, 
a  race  of  intelligent  and  sturdy  producers,  ever  gaming  in 
strength  and  prosperity;  namely,  the  agricultural  popula- 
tion, of  whom  the  great  Napoleon  once  said,  "A  nation 
whose  prosperity  is  founded  upon  the  thrift  of  its  agricul- 
tural population  can  never  be  forced  into  bankruptcy." 

Much  of  the  great  and  rapidly  increasing,  prosperity 
of  the  agricultural  population  is  due  to  the  magnificent  work 
of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washing- 
ton, supplemented  by  the  Experimental  Stations,  and  the 
State  Agricultural  Colleges  and  Farmers  Institutes. 

It  must  be  ever  borne  in  mind  that  the  so-called  "cap- 
tains of  finance"  and  the  manufacturing  and  commercial 
population,  and  all  laborers  and  mechanics  in  the  cities  are 
absolutely  non-productive,  and  that  all  the  wealth  of  the 
country  is  produced  exclusively  by  its  agricultural  popula- 
tion, and  that  the  aggregate  wealth,  and  ultimate  available 
power  of  the  agricultural  population,  far  exceeds  that  of  all 
the  commercial,  industrial  and  so-called  financial  interests 
of  the  country  combined,  and  therefore  if  they  make  a  stand 
for  their  rights,  there  is  no  power  or  combination  of  powers 
in  the  land  that  can  worst  them  in  any  contention. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  155 

How  the  Farmers  Can    Control  All   the    Railroads,  Stock- 
yards, Packing1  Houses,  Factories,  the  Entire  Milk 
Trade  and  Banks,  Without  Cost  to 
Themselves. 

If  the  farmers  should  agree  among  themselves  that  after 
a  certain  date  they  will  ship  no  more  produce  of  any  kind 
excepting  upon  condition  that  one  half  of  the  price  of  every- 
thing sold  by  them  shall  be  paid  for  in  stocks  or  bonds  of 
the  railways  over  which  it  is  shipped,  they  would  absolutely 
own,  or  at  least  control,  every  railroad  in  the  country;  or  if 
the  railway  companies  refused  to  yield  to  this  demand,  the 
farmers,  by  refusing  to  make  any  shipments  over  the  road 
for  six  months,  could  throw  every  railroad  in  the  country 
into  the  hands  of  a  receiver  and  then  buy  them  at  their  own 
prices  and  terms.  In  either  case,  within  a  few  years,  by  the 
saving  to  them  in  the  cost  of  transportation  upon  their 
produce,  they  would  have  gotten  back  all  that  the  roads 
cost  them,  for  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that  the  pro- 
ducers, by  standing  together,  always  have  it  in  their  power 
to  fully  control  those  who  handle  their  produce,  and  those 
who  depend  upon  them  for  all  their  supplies,  and  that  no 
combination  of  consumers  and  transportation  companies 
can  ever  stand  against  the  combined  action  of  the  producers, 
and  that  the  only  producer  who  is  in  any  way  dependent 
upon  others  is  the  farmer  with  a  past  due  mortgage  upon 
his  farm,  and  the  number  of  them  is  growing  less  every  year, 
and  before  long  none  will  remain. 

The  consumers  and  the  transportation  companies  cannot 
exist  without  the  produce  raised  by  the  farmers,  but  the 
farmers  can  get  on  for  a  long  time  without  the  others. 

In  like  manner,  if  the  farmers  should  agree  to  establish 
their  own  stockyards,  abbatoirs,  packing  houses,  and  should 


156  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

refuse  to  deal  with  any  others,  they  would  absolutely  con- 
trol the  situation,  and  within  a  very  few  years,  at  the  longest, 
their  increased  profits  on  every  thing  that  they  produce 
would  have  paid  them  back  more  than  the  cost  of  establish- 
ing their  own  plants. 

The  same  is  true  of  elevators  not  yet  owned  by  the  farm- 
ers; of  flour  mills,  tanneries,  woolen  mills,  cotton  factories, 
the  whole  tobacco  business,  and  of  all  breweries  and  dis- 
tilleries, in  fact  of  every  line  of  business  that  in  any  way 
manufactures  or  deals  in  anything  that  they  produce,  and 
of  most  of  the  banks,  and  ultimately  of  all  of  them. 

In  this  country  many  elevators,  creameries,  starch  factor- 
ies, grist  mills,  cheese  factories  and  banks  and  a  number  of 
cooperative  stores  are  now  owned  by  farmers  and  controlled 
by  them,  while  in  some  of  the  older  countries  of  the  world 
many  of  the  other  lines  above  mentioned  are  owned  and 
controlled  by  farmers. 

In  many  European  villages  the  blacksmith,  the  harness- 
maker,  the  wagonmaker  and  those  in  a  number  of  other 
lines  of  industry  are  all  farmers  and  everything  is  done 
upon  a  system  which  is  really  co-operative ;  and  by  much 
better  agricultural  methods  than  yet  prevail  in  the  United 
States,  on  from  one  to  five  per  cent  of  the  amount  of  land 
usually  owned  by  American  farmers,  they  not  only  make  a 
living,  but  accumulate  savings  which,  in  the  aggregate, 
amount  to  billions  of  dollars,  yet  these  are  the  men  whose 
forefathers  only  a  few  generations  back  were  the  serfs  and 
slaves  of  the  landlords. 

In  many  of  the  smaller  towns  and  villages  of  the  United 
States  the  business  and  professional  men  are  also  farmers. 

The  farmers,  by  employing  experts  in  every  line  of  busi- 
ness undertaken  by  them,  while  keeping  the  financial  end 
well  in  their  own  hands,  with  their  treasurers  and  other 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  157 

financial  agents  under  bonds,  can  handle  any  line  of  busi- 
ness or  manufacturing  without  any  difficulty  whatever,  and 
to  much  better  advantage  than  they  can  ever  be  conducted 
by  non-producers  who  must  always  be  dependent  upon  the 

producers  for  all  their  raw  materials. 

t 

How  to  Keep  the  Boys  at  Home  on  the  Farm. 

When  a  boy  is  growing  out  of  his  childhood  he  very 
naturally  and  very  properly  begins  to  think  of  doing  some- 
thing for  himself  which  will  make  him  independent.  On  far 
too  many  farms  there  is  no  chance  for  this  and  a  boy  feels 
that  he  will  be  more  independent  by  working  for  someone 
else  where  he  can  control  what  he  earns  and  do  what  he 
likes  with  it,  instead  of  indefinitely  filling  the  position  of 
practically  a  hired  man  on  the  farm  for  his  father. 

If  every  boy  and  girl  on  a  farm  who  has  reached  the  age 
of  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  at  the  latest,  were  given  a  certain 
number  of  poultry,  or  sheep  and  other  young  live  stock  for 
their  own  and  encouraged  to  build  them  up  both  as  to 
quality  and  quantity  with  the  distinct  understanding  that 
all  the  profits  from  them  would  belong  to  the  boy  or  girl 
to  whom  they  had  been  given,  it  would  give  them  a  feeling 
of  personal  interest  in  the  business  side  of  the  farm  which 
is  impossible  without  some  such  arrangement. 

Then  let  it  be  further  understood  that  when  they  have  ar- 
rived at  a  certain  age  they  will  be  taken  into  partnership 
with  the  father  and  have  a  definite  share  in  all  the  earnings 
of  the  farm.  This  will  give  them  an  opening  far  better 
than  they  could  usually  find  anywhere  else. 

Then  as  the  children  arrive  at  a  marriageable  age  let 
them  know  that  they  shall  have  a  piece  of  land.  If  more 
land  can  not  be  bought,  by  proper  farming  methods  and 
economy  in  resources  and  management  160  acres  of  land 


158  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

will  support  from  eight  to  sixteen  families  far  more  com- 
fortably than  most  families  are  now  living  on  160  or  more 
acres  of  land. 

Encourage  social  life  among  the  young  folks.  It  is  an 
excellent  idea  to  have  them  belong  to  "social  clubs  which 
should  meet  at  least  once  a  week,  especially  during  the 
winter.  Get  them  musical  instruments,  and  if  instructions 
on  them  can  not  be  had  at  home,  by  having  books  of  in- 
struction they  can  make  much  progress  by  themselves. 
Provide  them  with  useful  and  entertaining  books,  as  these 
can  be  had  in  many  localities  now  from  public  libraries 
without  expense,  and  do  everything  possible  to  show  them 
that  their  opportunities  on  the  farm  are  far  better  than 
they  could  be  anywhere  else,  and  try  to  make  these  oppor- 
tunities better  than  they  can  find  anywhere  else.  In  a  word, 
make  home  happy,  comfortable  and  profitable  for  them, 
and  if  this  is  done  it  will  be  found  that  they  will  remain  on 
the  farm,  for  most  persons  will  do  what  is  most  agreeable 
and  profitable  to  them.  But  if  they  have  no  further  interest 
in  the  farm  than  to  do  their  daily  chores  and  help  with  all 
the  heavy  work,  with  nothing  better  in  sight,  how  can  they 
be  expected  to  stay  there.  Indeed,  it  would  be  most  unrea- 
sonable to  expect  it. 

Farming  Not  a  Commercial  Enterprise. 

The  farmer  who  works  to  build  up  a  large  bank  account 
is  much  like  the  dog  mentioned  in  Aesop's  Fables  who  drop- 
ped a  real  bone  to  snatch  up  the  shadow  of  a  bone  in  the 
water;  they  are  neglecting  the  real  things  for  something 
which  can  never  take  its  place,  for  money,  as  clearly  shown 
in  another  place  in  this  book,  is  not  and  never  can  be  wealth, 
while  the  farm  and  its  products  are  real  wealth. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  159 

Money  in  bank  rises  and  falls  in  its  value,  or  purchasing 
power,  so  that  its  value  can  never  be  known  a  day  ahead, 
but  the  land  of  a  farm,  the  stored  grain,  the  live  stock,  bear- 
ing fruit  trees,  growing  crops  and  other  things  that  go  to 
make  up  a  well  stocked  and  well  kept  farm,  are  real  assets, 
and  the  only  true  estimate  of  the  value  of  a  farm  is  made 
by  saying:  I  have  so  many  acres  of  plow  land,  so  many 
acres  of  timber  land,  so  many  head  of  neat  cattle,  so  many 
sheep,  so  many  poultry,  a  stock  of  vegetables  and  bacon 
sufficient  for  so  many  months,  so  many  bushels  of  stored 
grain  and  hay  in  fireproof  buildings.  All  these  things  are 
of  real  value  and  give  a  true  indication  of  the  wealth  of 
the  farmer,  but  the  man  who  tells  us  that  his  bank  account 
amounts  to  so  many  dollars,  to  be  truthful,  should  add,  but 
of  course  I  do  not  know  how  much  or  how  little  that  bank 
account  will  represent  of  things  of  real  value  by  tomorrow 
or  next  day  even  if  the  bank  holds  on  without  failing  or 
being  robbed,  as  many  banks  have  been  at  different  times. 

From  this  it  will  be  plainly  seen  that  the  farmer  who 
sells  his  grain  or  livestock  and  puts  the  money  obtained  for 
them  in  bank  has  parted  with  what  was  of  real  value 
in  exchange  for  something  of  very  uncertain  value,  but  if 
he  puts  the  returns  from  his  grain  or  livestock  into  other 
live  stock,  or  fruit  trees,  or  improved  buildings,  he  is  invest- 
ing in  things  of  real  value. 

Many  farmers  have  fallen  into  the  habit  of  trying  to  earn 
the  money  with  which  to  buy  what  they  can  produce  much 
better  and  more  easily  without  the  need  of  money,  and  in  this 
way  they  lose  the  independence  and  comfort  which  should 
be  found  on  the  farm,  and  which  cannot  be  found  in  the 
same  degree  anywhere  else. 

Some  years  ago  an  Illinois  farmer  concluded  that  he 
could  produce  at  home  many  things  that  he  was  buying, 


160  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

and  he  set  about  doing  it.  At  the  end  of  a  year  he  found 
that  the  time  and  land  he  had  devoted  to  producing  at 
home  things  that  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  buying  had 
cost  him  $300,  but  as  he  had  saved  $400,  even  from  a  money 
standpoint,  he  was  better  off  than  when  he  bought  those 
things,  besides  the  greater  independence,  and  the  greater 
comfort  of  having  absolutely  pure  and  unadulterated,  every- 
thing that  he  produced  at  home. 

When  the  good  old  home  industries  were  kept  up  every- 
where an  unmarried  woman  was  called  a  "spinster"  be- 
cause by  her  spinning  she  could  always  earn  her  living 
without  being  dependent  upon  any  one,  and  the  abandon- 
ment of  these  home  industries  has  resulted  in  destroying 
the  independence  of  families  and  making  them  depend  upon 
the  large  manufacturing  plants  and  the  trusts  who  control 
the  things  that  they  could  much  better  make  at  home. 

In  some  of  the  most  prosperous  portions  of  France  the 
residents  may  be  said  to  do  no  more  shopping  than  if  they 
lived  on  a  desert  island,  about  the  only  things  that  they 
ever  buy  being  a  few  needles  and  pins  or  some  tools  or  other. 
They  make,  right  in  their  own  homes,  everything  that  they 
require  and  they  enjoy  an  independence  and  comfort  quite 
unknown  to  those  who  do  not  know  how  to  do  these  things, 
and  they  are  wealthy  in  the  truest  and  best  sense  of  the 
word,  for  every  want  is  fully  supplied  without  having  any 
man  who  can  be  their  "boss"  and  they  usually  retire  when 
fifty  or  sixty  years  old,  well  provided  for  for  the  rest  of 
their  lives  and  they  enjoy  many  luxuries  which  are  com- 
paratively rare  in  the  United  States  excepting  among  the 
very  rich. 

Keep  the  Boys  Away  From  the  Professions. 
We  sometimes  hear  of  a  father  who  believes  that  the  best 
thing  he  can  do  for  his  boy  is  to  prepare  him  for  a  pro- 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  161 

fession.  Poor  father !  and  poor  boy !  They  evidently  do  not 
know  that  the  average  income  of  doctors  and  lawyers  in  the 
United  States  is  less  than  $600  a  year,  and  that  a  very  few 
make  much  more  than  this,  and  that  many  of  them  make  a 
good  deal  less. 

While  there  is  still  some  opening  in  the  United  States  for 
thoroughly  competent  engineers  who  have,  gone  through  a 
college  course  followed  by  a  full  course  in  a  polytechnic 
school,  or  a  complete  course  of  engineering,  and  who  can 
afford  to  wait  for  a  number  of  years  before  being  advanced, 
but  few  rise  to  more  than  a  very  modest  living,  with  but 
little  chance  to  lay  by  much  of  anything  for  their  old  age, 
and  there  are  today  a  number  of  excellent  engineers  past 
middle  age  who  are  working  for  small  salaries,  barely 
enough  to  keep  them  and  their  families  out  of  the  poor- 
house. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  in  some  of  the  larger  cities 
there  is  an  average  of  one  lawyer  for  every  ten  business 
men  in  the  city.  Such  an  excessive  number  of  lawyers  as 
this  makes  it  impossible  for  more  than  a  small  number  of 
them  to  make  even  the  barest  living  out  of  the  profession, 
and  it  also  has  a  tendency  to  lower  the  standard  of  ex- 
cellence and  also  the  compensation  paid  to  lawyers,  as  there 
are  so  many  poor,  half  starved  fellows  ready  to  take  busi- 
ness for  anything  that  they  can  get,  and  willing  to  take 
almost  any  business,  no  matter  how  disreputable  it  may  be, 
that  the  result  is  the  country  is  flooded  with  "shysters." 

The  wise  father  who  knows  what  is  best  for  his  boys  will 
keep  them  away  from  the  professions  unless  he  has  plenty 
of  money  to  support  them  quite  independently  of  what  they 
earn,  for  with  most  young  men  who  go  into  the  professions 
the  result  is  failure  and  discouragement  with  years  of  val- 
uable time  lost  which  might  be  much  better  occupied  either 


162  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

in  farming,  especially  where  the  boys  are  enabled  to  go 
through  a  course  at  a  good  farm  school,  or,  if  they  cannot 
get  a  start  at  farming,  then  they  had  better  learn  some 
trade  or  look  for  some  good  job  and  stick  to  it. 

Hoeing  potatoes  is  more  respectable  and  much  more 
profitable  than  making  a  miserable  failure  of  a  profession, 
as  most  boys  must  if  they  "have  the  misfortune  to  get  into 
one. 

The  medical  and  legal  professions  are  just  as  much  the 
victims  of  trusts  as  any  other  city  calling,  for  much  of  the 
law  business  is  handled  by  companies,  trust  companies,  col- 
lecting companies,  etc.,  who  do  the  business  that  used  to 
give  employment  to  many  lawyers,  and  they  pay  but  one 
or  two  lawyers  and  get  the  rest  of  the  work  done  by  a  lot 
of  cheap  boys  or  girls. 

Doctors  are,  many  of  them,  driven  out  of  business  by 
medical  "institutes,"-  advertising  medical  companies,  etc., 
and  many  of  them  must  either  half  starve  or  try  to  find 
something  else  to  do  for  which  they  are  unfitted  by  reason 
of  the  time  lost  on  the  profession  of  which  they  made  a 
failure. 

"SAVE  BOYS,"  URGES  JUDGE  BEN  LINDSEY. 

Gives  Figures  to   Show  That  Denver  Juvenile  Court  Re- 
deems the  Children. 

Value  of  a  "Small  Citizen." 

In  old  days  theft  of  gunny  was  burglary;  today  it's  a  warn- 
ing. 

By  Judge  Ben  B.  Lindsey. 

Denver,  Colo.,  Feb.  19,  1910. — "I  have  read  the  newspaper 
reports  of  the  intention  of  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  to  erect  an  insti- 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  163 

tution  in  New  York  for  the  special  care  of  children  dealt 
with  by  the  children's  court. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  encouraging  to  know  that  good 
women  of  wealth  and  influence  are  taking  an  interest  in 
the  unfortunate  children  of  the  country,  and  are  willing  to 
lend  substantial  aid  to  any  work  designed  to  help  them. 

The  so-called  child  problem  in  America,  while  not  neces- 
sarily alarming,  is  nevertheless  becoming  one  of  the  most 
serious  problems.  It  is  only  natural  that  it  should  be  so. 

So  long  as  social,  economic  and  political  conditions  re- 
main as  they  are,  the  child  problem  is  bound  to  become 
more  serious.  Juvenile  courts  and  detention  homes  are  the 
salve  for  the  sore,  and,  of  course,  we  should  be  thankful  for 
the  salve.  It  will,  at  least,  ease  the  pain,  but  it  will  not 
cure  the  disease. 

It  is  far  better,  however,  to  have  juvenile  courts  to  which 
children  are  brought  to  be  saved  rather  than  be  punished, 
to  be  helped  rather  than  be  hurt,  to  be  uplifted  rather  than 
degraded,  than  to  have  them  brought  to  the  criminal  courts, 
as  they  were  until  within  the  past  decade. 

The  detention  home  is  a  very  necessary  factor  in  the  suc- 
cess of  any  children's  court  work.  It  is  to  the  moral  welfare 
of  the  child  what  the  hospital  is  to  his  physical  welfare — a 
sort  of  moral  sanitarium. 

Gunny  Sack  or  Boy,  Which? 

Technically,  in  the  old  days,  when  the  street  boy  entered 
the  neighbor's  barn  to  steal  the  gunny  sack  to  sell  to  get 
money  to  go  to  the  circus,  he  was  arrested  for  burglary. 
This  was  because  the  proceeding  was  to  protect  the  gunny 
sack — the  man  who  owned  it.  Under  the  new  procedure, 
the  act  of  the  boy  was  merely  the  signal  that  the  state 


164  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

must  take  an  interest  in  the  little  citizen,  and  the  problem 
became  not  to  save  the  gunny  sack,  but  to  save  the  boy. 

By  a  law  passed  by  the  legislature  of  Colorado,  approved 
April  12,  1899,  and  a  law  passed  in  Illinois  the  same  year 
establishing  a  juvenile  court  in  Chicago  June  1,  1899,  the 
state,  in  a  case  like  this,  made  the  boy  of  more  importance 
than  the  gunny  sack. 

In  following  up  this  idea,  which  was  not  at  all  new,  but 
(part  of  the  old  chancery  court  system  that  bade  us  deal 
with  delinquents  and  defectives  as  wards'  in  the  chancery 
court,  where  rules  of  equity  are  enforced  rather  than  those 
that  pertain  to  the  criminal  courts)  it  became  necessary  to 
dispense  with  jails  as  places  of  discipline. 

Records  Prove  Reform. 

The  children's  court  needs  the  service  of  the  doctor,  the 
surgeon,  the  philanthropist,  the  parent,  the  business  man 
and  the  citizen. 

Seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  inmates  of  many  prisons  are 
second  offenders.  Jails  and  prisons  might  protect  society, 
but  they  do  not  reform  the  individual.  Seventy-five  per 
cent  of  youths  brought  to  jails  in  certain  cities  of  this 
country  are  shown  by  statistics  to  have  returned  to  jail 
within  five  years  for  further  and  generally  more  serious  of- 
fenses. 

The  records  of  the  juvenile  courts  show  that  not  to  ex- 
ceed 10  per  cent  return  for  further  offenses,  thus  proving 
conclusively  that  the  new  method  of  dealing  with  the  so- 
called  youthful  elements  is  a  better  plan  of  protection  of 
society,  and  also  for  their  redemption. 

What  the  child  most  needs  in  this  country  is  not  juvenile 
courts,  detention  homes  and  charitable  work.  They  need 
justice  for  their  parents  and  their  homes.  When  we  all  be- 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  165 

gin  to  work  for  a  program  that  contemplates  justice,  we 
will  not  be  worried  so  much  about  the  need  for  juvenile 
courts,  and  until  we  do  begin  our  work  in  that  direction  the 
need  for  juvenile  courts  will  be  more  or  less  acute." 

Lindsey's  Idea  Spreading. 

New  York,  Feb.  19, 1910.— As  a  result  of  the  work  done  by 
children's  courts  in  America,  especially  in  Denver,  the  move- 
ment has  spread',  or  is  spreading  over  the  civilized  countries 
of  the  world.  Recently  a  children's  court  was  established 
in  London  upon  many  of  the  principles  of  the  Denver  insti- 
tution, and  movements  for  similar  tribunals  are  either  under 
way  or  will  soon  be  in  Germany,  France  and  Hungary.  The 
Count  Szechenyi,  who  was  married  to  Miss  Gladys  Vander- 
bilt,  has  spent  several  weeks  in  this  city,  and  while  here 
inspected  the  work  of  juvenile  courts.  He  is  going  home  to 
urge  a  similar  institution  in  Hungary. 

The  fame  of  the  unique  court  in  Denver  has  spread  far 
and  near.  Recently  Judge  Lindsey  of  Denver  received  a 
personal  letter  from  the  private  secretary  of  Mr.  Gladstone 
of  England  in  which  he  was  told  the  principles  had  been 
used  in  founding  the  British  tribunal  for  child  culprits. 

Mrs.  W.  K.  Vanderbilt  of  New  York  has  taken  up  the 
work  of  uplifting  deficient  children  and,  in  addition  to 
visiting  courts  in  this  city,  she  is  making  a  study  of  the  re- 
ports and  pamphlets  of  Judge  Lindsey. 

Colorado  and  Illinois  were  the  first  states  to  pass  a  law 
establishing  a  court  to  deal  with  delinquent  children.  The 
young  offenders  are  not  charged  specifically  with  crime, 
but  are  guided  away  from  their  dangerous  path. 

At  the  present  time  the  Italian  government  is  investigat- 
ing the  Denver  court  and  when  a  similar  institution  is 


166  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

founded  in  Rome  it  will  be  upon  the  general  plan  of  the 
Colorado  court." 

For  the  Boys. 

"Never  treat  other  boys'  sisters  better  than  your  own. 

Never  lay  aside  your  manners  when  you  take  off  your  fine 
clothes. 

Never  make  fun  of  a  companion  because  of  a  misfortune 
he  could  not  help. 

Never  make  fun  of  old  age,  no  matter  how  decripit,  or 
evil  it  may  be.  God's  hand  rests  lovingly  on  the  aged. 

Never  call  anybody  bad  names,  no  matter  what  anybody 
calls  you.  You  cannot  throw  mud  and  keep  your  hands 
clean. 

Never  quarrel.  When  your  tongue  gets  unruly  lock  it  in; 
if  need  be  bite  it.  Never  suffer  it  to  advertise  your  bad 
temper. 

Never  be  cruel.  You  have  no  right  to  hurt  a  fly  needless- 
ly. Cruelty  is  the  trait  of  a  bully;  kindness  the  mark  of  a 
gentleman. 

Never  make  comrades  of  boys  who  are  continually  doing 
and  saying  evil  things.  A  boy,  as  a  man,  is  known  by  the 
company  he  keeps. 

Never  cheat  or  be  unfair  in  your  play.  Cheating  is  con- 
temptible anywhere,  at  any  age.  Your  play  should  strength- 
en, not  weaken  your  character. 

Never  lie.  Even  white  lies  leave  black  spots  on  the 
character.  What  is  your  opinion  of  a  liar?  Do  you  wish 
other  people  to  have  a  like  opinion  of  yourself? 

Never  hesitate  to  say  no  when  asked  to  do  a  wrong  thing, 
but  say  no  so  distinctly  that  no  one  can  understand  you  to 
mean  yes. 


DOWNFALL    OP   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  167 

Never  make  sport  of  those  miserable  creatures — a  drunk- 
en man  or  woman.  They  are  wrecks,  but  God  only  knows 
what  drove  them  upon  the  breakers.  Weep  rather  than 
laugh. 

Never  be  unkind  to  your  father  and  mother.  When  they 
are  dead  and  you  have  children  of  your  own,  you  will  dis- 
cover that,  even  though  you  did  your  best,  you  were  able 
to  make  only  a  part  payment  of  the  debt  you  owed  them. 
The  balance  you  must  pay  to  your  own  children. 

Boys,  hang  this  up  in  your  room  where  you  will  see  it 
often;  turn  it  over  and  read  the  other  side  occasionally. 

Boy  Wanted. 

To  fill  an  important  position.  He  must  have  a  clean  face, 
clean  habits  and  a  clean  heart.  Need.not  know  how  to  roll 
a  cigarette,  or  how  beer  tastes;  and  if  he  is  not  up-to-date 
on  all  the  smutty  jokes  of  the  pool  room  his  ignorance  will 
be  overlooked.  He  must  be  a  boy  who  treats  his  mother  and 
sister — and  every  other  boy's  mother  and  sister —  with  re- 
spect and  does  not  refer  to  his  father  as  the  "old  man." 
He  need  not  be  especially  brilliant  at  school,  but  he  must 
be  studious  and  persevering,  never  cheating  in  his  examina- 
tions or  passing  a  problem  until  he  has  mastered  it.  He 
must  be  truthful,  prompt,  obedient  and  industrious.  He 
must  make  his  employer's  interest  his  interest  and  never  be 
afraid  he  is  earning  more  than  his  wages.  He  is  wanted  to 
respond  at  once  and  to  any  number.  Merchants  want  him 
to  sweep  out  the  store  for  a  few  years  and  ultimately  take 
charge  of  it.  Newspapers  want  him  to  commence  at  the 
bottom  and  work  up  to  the  roomy  space  at  the  top.  He  is 
wanted  everywhere— in  the  law,  in  medical  practice,  in  the 
counting  room  and  to  run  great  public  works.  The  people 


168  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

who  pay  big  salaries  are  looking  for  him.  The  people  want 
him  for  Judge  in  the  court,  member  of  congress,  senator 
and  for  president,  and  the  nicest  girl  in  the  world  wants 
him  for  her  husband. 

Published  for  gratuitous  distribution  by  I.  C.  Mansfield, 
Chatanooga,  Tenn.    Free  copies  furnished  on  application." 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  169 


CHAPTER  X. 
Divine  Providence  is  Kind. 

A  number  of  reports  have  been  published  upon  the  de- 
struction of  arable  lands  by  floods,  and  illustrations  have 
been  shown  of  places  where  the  loam  or  clay  soil  has  been 
entirely  washed  away  leaving  nothing  but  beds  of  sand, 
gravel  or  boulders,  and  the  impression  has  been  given  that 
these  lands  were  therefore  worthless.  But  let  us  for  a  mo- 
ment consider  the  question. 

Originally  Golden  Gate  Park,  San  Francisco,  California, 
consisted  of  absolutely  nothing  but  sand  dunes  in  which 
pedestrians  sank  to  their  shoe-tops  and  which  were  blown 
hither  and  thither  by  the  ^jnds  like  so  much  dry  dust,  just 
like  the  sand  dunes  still  to  be  seen  along  the  coast  for  miles 
south  of  Seal  Rock  and  Cliff  House,  and  Mayor  Sutten,  who 
presented  the  site  of  Golden  Gate  Park  to  the  city,  was  un- 
mercifully ridiculed  for  giving  property  which  was  sup- 
posed to  be  perfectly  worthless. 

Yet  today  Golden  Gate  Park  is  completely  covered  with 
green  lawns,  gardens  filled  with  beautiful  plants  and  flow- 
ers and  groves  of  flourishing  trees.  The  explanation  of  this 
wonderful  transformation  may  be  summed  up  in  the  single 
word — irri  gation . 

The  effect  of  water  upon  soil  apparently  worthless  is  so 
marked  that  persons  well  qualified  to  express  an  opinion 
upon  the  subject  have  positively  stated  that  desert  sands 
contain  more  plant  food  than  black  loam  or  clay  soils,  and 
that  water  is  the  only  requisite  to  make  them  abundantly 


170  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

productive  and  the  writer  has  seen  demonstrations  which 
seem  to  verify  this  statement. 

In  Washington  state,  west  of  the  little  town  of  Keniwick, 
there  is  a  region  of  arid  land  about  as  barren  and  hopeless 
looking  as  can  be  seen  anywhere.  Yet  not  far  from  Keni- 
wick, where  the  soil  is  exactly  the  same,  a  complete  trans- 
formation is  apparent,  for  instead  of  a  barren  waste  the  eye 
"is  delighted  by  bright  flower  gardens,  green  fields  and 
flourishing  orchards.  Again  the  explanation  is — irrigation. 

In  the  Prickly  Pear  Valley  in  Montana  the  writer  was 
still  more  impressed  by  this,  for  there  is  no  soil  at  all 
in  the  meaning  of  the  word  as  ordinarily  understood,  for  no- 
thing is  to  be  seen  but  very  coarse  gravel  and  rocky  detritus 
carried  down  from  the  neighboring  mountains.  Yet  here 
also,  by  the  aid  of  irrigation,  crops  of  all  kinds  are  raised 
so  far  in  excess  of  what  are  produced  upon  loam  and  clay 
soils  in  other  parts  of  the  country  that  did  I  venture  to  men- 
tion the  yield  per  acre  as  shown,  by  authentic  records  many 
readers  of  this  would  put  me  down  as  a  champion  liar. 

In  California  there  are  irrigated  lands  worth  from  $1,000 
to  $3,000  per  acre,  as  the  result  of  irrigation,  yet  immedi- 
ately adjoining  them,  where  water  for  irrigation  is  not 
available,  lands  exactly  similar  have  practically  no  market 
value  whatever. 

In  the  days  of  the  early  settlers  in  California  the  Italians, 
who  have  done  so  much  to  make  California  one  of  the  great- 
est fruit  countries  in  the  world,  at  first  took  up  lands  in  the 
fertile  valleys  where  they  raised  grapes  and  other  fruits 
of  beautiful  appearance  and  in  great  abundance,  but  to 
their,  amazement  the  wines  made  from  these  splendid  look- 
ing grapes  were  of  a  very  inferior  quality,  and  it  gradually 
dawned  upon  them  that  the  rich  bottom  lands  that  they  had 
selected  were  very  different  from  the  stony  hillsides  of 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  171 

France  and  Italy  where  the  finest  wines  in  the  world  are 
produced  and  where  the  writer  has  seen  abundant  crops 
of  grapes  growing  upon  hillsides  where  there  was  nothing 
to  be  seen  but  gravel  so  extremely  coarse  that  it  would 
have  been  difficult  to  find  a  pebble  stone  smaller  than  an 
ordinary  hens  egg. 

It  was  only  after  the  Italian  pioneer  fruit  raisers  and  wine 
makers  of  California  had  moved  up  onto  the  rocky  and  bar- 
ren looking  hillsides  that  they  finally  succeeded  in  produc- 
ing wines  that  compare  favorably  with  the  best  made  in 
Europe. 

All  around  the  sites  of  the  ancient  cities  of  Ninevah  and 
Babylon,  two  of  the  largest  and  greatest  cities  ever  known, 
'is  now  to  be  seen  absolutely  nothing  but  the  barren  waste 
of  the  Arabian  desert.  Yet  when  these  cities  ruled  the 
world  the  surrounding  country  maintained  an  enormous  pop- 
ulation. Here  also  irrigation  was  the  key  to  the  situation, 
for  in  the  days  of  the  prosperity  of  these  great  cities  the 
entire  country  was  checkered  with  ditches  which  supplied 
abundant  water  for  irrigation,  and  today  in  the  comparative- 
ly small  area,  close  to  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris  rivers,  where 
irrigation  is  still  practiced,  the  fruitfulness  of  the  soil  is  so 
great  as  to  lend  color  to  the  tradition  that  this  was  the  site 
of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  but  a  succession  of  wars  and  con- 
quests, which  destroyed  vast  numbers  of  the  population, 
caused  the  destruction  and  decay  of  the  extensive  irrigation 
works  so  that  now  the  traveler  sees  not  a  vestige  of  these 
great  cities  left  nor  of  the  dense  population  which  once  sur- 
rounded them,  and  nothing  but  a  few  slight  undulations 
upon  the  surface  of  the  plain  show  where  the  dust  and  sand 
of  ages  has  completely  covered  the  great  cities  where  Bal- 
thazzar,  Nebuchadnezzer  and  Azuariis  once  reigned  with  the 
greatest  splendor. 


172  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

In  some  places  eoniferus  trees,  (the  pine  family)  actual- 
ly appear  to  require  no  soil  at  all  and  seem  to  derive  their 
sustenance  almost  entirely  from  the  air,  apparently  re- 
quiring a  rocky  surface  only  to  stand  upon,  their  roots 
and  tendrils  penetrating  into  any  little  crevice  where  they 
can  get  a  foothold. 

Once  when  making  a  rather  foolish  attempt  to  descend 
the  northern  face  of  Mount  Helena  in  Montana  near  the 
city  of  Helena,  the  writer's  life  was  saved  by  throwing  his 
arm  over  a  small  fir  tree  growing  from  a  crevice  in  the  rock, 
after  a  projecting  point  of  rock  to  which  he  was  clinging 
had  given  way  and  was  hurled  down  the  precipice  hundreds 
of  feet  below  him. 

It  therefore  seems  difficult  to  find  any  conditions  of  soil, 
or  rather  of  absence  of  soil,  under  which  something  of  use 
to  man  cannot  be  grown,  and  while  it  would  be  folly  to  dis- 
regard the  frequent  warnings  given  by  the  U.  S.  Geological 
Survey  and  the  Agricultural  Department  as  to  the  disastr- 
ous consequences  of  neglecting  the  proper  care  of  our  water- 
sheds and  forests,  doubtless  much  good  would  result  from  a 
more  thorough  study  of  the  best  means  for  utilizing  lands 
too  often  considered  entirely  worthless,  for,  as  stated  at  the 
beginning  of  this  topic,  Divine  Providence  is  kind  and  rare- 
ly leaves  us  without  resources  if  we  study  the  means  which, 
in  His  infinite  wisdom,  He  has  placed  at  our  disposal  if  we 
look  for  them  intelligently. 

Fuel  as  Easily  Raised  as  Turnips. 

Today  we  hear  much  about  the  ''conservation"  of  our 
national  resources:  Presidents  have  called  conventions  to 
consider  the  subject,  many  able  writers  have  read  papers 
and  published  communications  upon  the  subject,  and  all 
this  is  good  and  wholesome  and  a  move  in  the  right  direc- 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  173 

tion,  yet  the  cry  of  alarm  at  the  possible  shortage  of  fuel  is 
almost  amusing,  for  there  is  nothing  that  can  be  produced 
more  easily,  abundantly  and  rapidly  than  fuel. 

Without  taking  into  consideration  the  great  peat  beds, 
as  yet  practically  untouched,  and  which  would  yield  a  vast 
amount  of  excellent  fuel  for  many  years  to  come,  nor  many 
varieties  of  trees  of  rapid  growth,  and  entirely  leaving  out 
the  vast  quantities  of  alcohol  that  could  be  produced  all  over 
the  country  from  corn,  potatoes  and  other  crops  that  can  be 
raised  in  abundance,  for  light  and  fuel  to  supply  all  the 
requirements  of  the  entire  nation;  were  it  not  for  the  legis- 
lation in  restraint  of  trade,  in  direct  violation  of  the  provi- 
sions of  Magna  Charta  and  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  enacted  by  venal  legislatures  to  favor  special  privi- 
leged interests  and  to  bolster  up  criminal  monopolies,  and 
sustained  by  equally  venal  courts  and  cabinet  officers;  leav- 
ing these  out,  there  are  other  means  of  producing  light  and 
fuel,  both  for  heating  and  power,  which  are  available  to 
every  landowner. 

Among  these  may  be  mentioned  rape,  sunflowers,  flax  and 
peanuts,  all  of  which  are  enormously  productive  and  from 
which  may  be  produced  practically  unlimited  quantities 
of  oil  suitable  for  furnishing  heat,  light,  power  and  lubri- 
cants. Moreover  all  of  these  oils  may  be  produced  in  ad- 
dition to  other  valuable  crops  raised  at  the  same  time  from 
the  same  plants. 

A  little  consideration  of  this  subject  would  show  that 
within  a  year  the  entire  nation  could  be  made  independent 
of  both  coal  and  petroleum  for  light  and  heat,  power  and 
lubricating  oils,  and  every  farmer  and  every  owner  of  a  few 
acres  of  land  could  produce  his  own  fuel  and  lighting  and 
lubricating  oils  with  plenty  left  besides  to  sell,  and  it  would 
pay  far  better  than  wheat  and  a  number  of  other  crops  now 


174    i  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

raised  in  abundance,  and  farmers'  cooperative  factories 
could  manufacture  the  products  of  these  plants  as  they  now 
conduct  creameries,  cheese  factories,  starch  factories,  etc. 
Moreover  every  wind  that  blows  can  be  made  to  produce  all 
of  these  excepting,  lubricating  oils. 

Unlimited  Available  Power  Going  to  Waste. 

The  movement  for  the  conservation  of  our  national  re- 
sources has  given  much  attention  to  running  water,  avail- 
able for  power,  and  in  this  they  have  done  wisely  and  well, 
and  it  is  undoubtedly  the  duty  of  those  who  are  sworn  to 
protect  the  rights  of  the  people  to  guard  against  the  absorp- 
tion of  valuable  rights  and  privileges  belonging  to  the  peo- 
ple without  proper  compensation  to  the  people  therefor, 
yet  the  idea  that  the  sources  of  power  for  mechanical  pur- 
poses are  at  all  likely  to  be  controlled  by  any  set  or  combin- 
ation of  individuals  is  simply  preposterous. 

In  the  first  place  the  idea  that  water  power  can  be  de- 
veloped only  where  there  is  a  fall  or  rapid  flow  of  water, 
is  an  error  in  hydraulic  engineering  contradicted  by  innum- 
erable historical  facts,  for  there  are  simple  mechanical  de- 
vices well  known  to  the  writer,  some  of  which  have  been  in 
use  in  various  parts  of  the  world  for  hundreds  of  years, 
others  of  which  are  more  recent  inventions,  by  means  of 
which  practically  the  entire  width,  depth  and  length  of  all 
streams  may  be  used  for  the  development  of  power  at  a 
very  moderate  cost  and  without  the  expense  of  dams. 

By  these  means  alone,  after  eliminating  all  the  desirable 
damsites  in  the  country,  enough  power  can  be  developed 
to  run  all  the  factories  and  mills  in  the  country,  to  furnish 
light,  and  for  every  conceivable  purpose  for  which  power 
can  be  used,  and  at  all  points  to  which  electromotive  force 
can  be  transmitted. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  175 

2nd.  Every  wind  that  blows  may  be  utilized  lor  the  de- 
velopment of  power  either  for  home  consumption,  and  for 
heating  and  lighting  as  well  as  for  power  purposes,  or  for 
transmission  to  distant  points  of  consumption. 

Power  from  these  two  sources  costs  nothing  beyond  a 
very  moderate  outlay  per  horse  power  or  kilowat,  for  in- 
stallation of  the  plant,  and  a  very  small  current  expense  for 
maintainence. 

3rd.  There  is  another  source  of  power  sufficient  to  run 
all  the  mills  and  factories  in  the  country  which  may  be 
turned  to  account  not  only  without  expense  but  it  may 
itself  be  made  a  source  of  profit  independently  of  the  power 
produced  by  it;  namely,  live  stock,  such  as  cattle,  horses, 
dogs,  etc.,  of  which  there  are  millions  in  the  country 
which  earn  absolutely  nothing  for  their  owners  except  when 
sold,  before  which  they  are  merely  an  expense,  or  when  at 
work,  which  is  usually  but  a  small  portion  of  the  time. 

An  example  from  real  life  will  best  show  the  correctness 
of  this  statement. 

In  China  a  baker  had  contracts  for  supplying  entire  lines 
of  ships  with  bread  and  crackers  and  consequently  con- 
ducted an  immense  wholesale  or  jobbing  business  in  these 
commodities.  This  thrifty  Chinaman  ground  the  grain  for 
his  flour.  His  power  for  this  purpose  was  500  oxen,  which 
he  always  bought  in  poor  condition  and  which  gained  rap- 
idly in  weight  as  a  result  of  abundant  feeding  from  the 
by-products  of  the  mill,  a  part  of  which  he  found  paid  him 
better  when  turned  into  beef  than  when  sold  for  cash  be- 
fore feeding.  These  cattle  were  worked  in  short  shifts, 
gaining  in  weight  all  the  time  up  to  the  short  period  of  rest 
during  which  he  finished  them  off  ready  for  butchering. 
The  manure  he  disposed  of  in  part  payment  for  his  grain, 


176  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

and  his  power  for  the  mill  not  only  cost  him  nothing,  but 
was  a  source  of  profit  to  him. 

In  the  continental  countries  of  Europe  who  ever  heard  of 
a  farmer's  dog  living  in  idleness  without  at  least  earning 
his  living,  for  there  they  haul  wood  and  water,  run  the 
churns  and  furnish  power  for  any  light-running  machinery. 

Livestock  is  a  source  of  power  practically  unlimited  and 
going  to  waste,  which  is  available  either  for  direct  applica- 
tion or  for  transmission  as  electromotive  force,  which  can  be 
used  while  actually  yielding  a  profit  independently  of  its 
value  as  power. 

4th.  Power  from  fuel  raised  on  the  land,  as  before  men- 
tioned, can  be  developed  practically  without  limit  and  with 
but  very  little  expense,  as  the  plants  which  yield  the  oil 
for  this  fuel  more  than  pay  the  cost  of  their  production 
apart  from  the  oil  produced. 

5th.  A  vast  amount  of  human  power  and  energy  goes  to 
waste.  How  many  farmers  can  do  a  neat  job  in  framing  a 
door  or  window,  in  making  furniture,  or  turning  a  newel 
post  or  the  leg  of  a  table,  in  repairing  their  wagons  or 
other  implements  or  tools,  or  even  in  shoeing  their  own 
horses;  yet  how  many  hours,  days  and  weeks  there  are  in 
each  year  in  which  many  farmers  could  do  this  work  at 
home  if  they  knew  how,  instead  of  spending  many  days  each 
year  on  the  road  and  in  the  neighboring  town  or  village  to 
have  a  team  shod  or  some  trifling  repairing  done  or  in  wait- 
ing to  get  this  work  done,  all  of  which  might  be  done  to 
better  advantage  at  home  with  but  little  loss  of  time  if  only 
the  farmer  had  learned  how  to  do  this,  and  by  this  means 
many  dollars  might  be  saved  each  year  besides  the  time 
lost  in  needless  trips  to  town  and  the  value  of  the  manure 
lost  on  the  way. 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  177 

While  on  some  farms  the  women  and  girls  are  busy  all 
the  time,  when  not  asleep  at  night,  there  are  many  homes 
both  in  the  country  and  in  towns  and  cities  where  there  is 
plenty  of  time  which  could  be  devoted  to  knitting,  sewing, 
tatting,  embroidery,  spinning  and  weaving,  by  which  much 
work  would  be  done  and  material  produced  of  a  quality  far 
superior  to  anything  that  can  be  bought  and  by  which  many 
dollars  could  be  saved  and  earned. 

The  time,  human  power  and  money  lost  by  allowing  others 
to  do  what  could  be  done  to  much  better  advantage  at  home, 
would  run  high  up  into  the  millions  of  dollars  each  year. 

The  fact  is  that  in  the  United  States  there  is  an  enormous 
surplus  and  glut  of  power,  far  beyond  all  possible  demand 
for  it,  which  constantly  goes  to  waste,  and  it  may  be  truly 
said  that  in  the  United  States  nothing  is  more  abundant  than 
available  power  from  a  number  of  sources  which  are  prac- 
tically unlimited  and  inexhaustible  and  which  are  free  to 
those  who  will  turn  them  to  account ;  yet  it  is  right  and  wise 
to  conserve  for  the  nation  such  sources  of  power  as  right- 
fully belong  to  it. 

Water  Traffic  vs.  Railway  Traffic.    A  Great  Chance  For  the 

Farmers. 

Probably  many  persons  are  under  the  impression  that  the 
amount  of  traffic  on  a  number  of  our  rivers  has  declined  be- 
cause it  could  not  successfully  compete  with  traffic  by 
railway.  This  is  true  to  a  limited  extent,  but  to  a  limited  ex- 
tent, only,  and  amounts  to  but  little  more  than  that  river 
traffic  cannot  compete  with  traffic  by  rail  where  there  are 
no  navigable  waters,  and  that,  to  a  very  limited  extent, 
water  traffic  can  not  compete  with  traffic  by  rail  in  speed  of 
transportation.  It  has  been  estimated  that  the  average  rate 
of  travel  of  a  freight  car  does  not  exceed  25  miles  a  day. 


178  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

Of  course  this  allows  for  stops,  for  switching  in  making  up 
and  in  breaking  up  freight  trains,  in  transfers  from  one 
line  to  another,  and  for  time  required  in  loading  and  un- 
loading. 

On  the  other  hand  river  traffic  requires  no  tracks,  and 
therefore  involves  no  expense  for  maintainence  of  way, 
which  is  a  very  large  item  in  railroading;  it  requires  no 
yards  for  switching,  with  their  constant  expense  for  main- 
tainence. Its  terminal  facilities  may  be  more  compact  than 
those  for  railway  traffic,  as  no  room  is  needed  for  side  tracks 
as  far  as  the  water  traffic  is  concerned,  although  these 
would  be  required  for  transfer  facilities  to  railway  cars. 

The  money  required  to  build  and  equip  a  railway  of  a 
given  length  would  pay  for  vessels  capable  of  carrying  a 
vastly  greater  amount  of  freight  than  could  be  carried  by 
the  railway,  so  that  even  if  it  were  true  that  transportation 
by  rail  is  much  more  rapid  than  by  water,  for  the  number  of 
tons  of  freight  moved  a  given  distance  within  a  given  number 
of  days,  by  facilities  costing  a  specified  amount  for  invest- 
ment, the  waterway  would  carry  far  more  than  the  railway. 
That  is,  for  every  dollar  invested  in  steamboats,  the  amount 
carried  per  week  or  per  month  would  be  far  greater  than 
that  carried  per  week  or  per  month  by  rail.  And  as  the 
expense  of  first  cost  and  maintainence  for  terminal  facil- 
ities would  be  in  favor  of  the  vessel,  if  any  difference  there 
be,  traffic  by  water  has  the  advantage  in  every  way  over 
traffic  by  rail,  where  they  can  come  into  competition,  that  is, 
where  one  paralells  the  other. 

Then,  it  will  be  asked,  why  has  there  been  such  a  falling 
off  in  river  traffic  on  many  of  our  navigable  streams?  The 
answer  may  be  given  in  one  word— trusts.  The  railroads 
have  systematically  worked  against  the  river  traffic.  Where 
there  would  be  a  great  gain  to  shippers  by  carrying  their 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  179 

goods  part  way  by  rail,  and  part  way  by  water,  the  roads 
have  charged  such  exhorbitant  rates  for  their  part  of  the 
haul  as  to  cut  out  the  haul  by  water.  The  roads  have  also, 
in  a  number  of  cases,  bought  up  the  landings  and  terminal 
facilities  needed  by  the  vessels  and  deliberately  kept  them 
idle  for  the  purpose  of  killing  out  the  river  traffic.  This 
statement  is  founded  upon  government  reports.  Where  a 
railway  paralelled  a  river  it  has,  at  times,  cut  its  rates  so 
low  as  to  appear  to  successfully  compete  with  the  traffic  by 
water,  but  shippers  on  other  parts  of  its  line  have  had  to 
pay  for  this. 

This  policy  of  antagonism  of  the  river  traffic  by  the  rail- 
ways is  positively  stupid  and  far  from  creditable  to  the  in- 
telligence of  those  who  have  fostered  it,  for  nothing  in  the 
world  could  do  more  to  increase  the  business  of  the  rail- 
roads in  every  way  than  to  help  and  encourage  water  traf- 
fic to  the  utmost. 

With  a  fully  developed  water  traffic  on  all  our  navigable 
rivers,  with  the  greatest  possible  cooperation  between  the 
railways  and  the  rivermen,  the  railways  could  have  greatly 
increased  their  present  earnings,  while  at  the  same  time 
reducing  the  amount  of  their  investments,  wherever  it  was 
possible  to  utilize  waterways  as  a  substitute  for  railways, 
and  excepting  for  fast  passenger  traffic,  fast  mails  and  a 
very  limited  quantity  of  fast  freights  and  through  freights, 
this  would  be  wherever  a  navigable  stream  parallels  a 
railway  at  the  present  time. 

Here  again  is  a  great  opportunity  for  the  producers,  the 
farmers;  who  control,  and  always  will  control,  most  of  the 
material  to  be  carried ;  to  organize  their  own  transportation 
companies,  and  move  their  own  freights,  through  their  own 
companies,  directed  by  their  own  bonded  employees,  under 
their  own  supervision,  to  their  great  advantage  in  a  business 
way. 


180  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 


CHAPTER  XI. 
Happiness  Within  Reach  of  All. 

As  seen  by  the  illustrations  of  the  "Golden  Rule"  hap- 
piness depends  far  more  upon  each  individual  personally 
than  upon  his  surroundings,  and  that  one  who  looks  always 
upon  the  bright  side  of  life  can  get  sunshine  out  of  almost 
every  circumstance,  while  others  see  nothing  but  gloom  and 
misery  under  exactly  similar  conditions. 

When  the  writer  was  practicing  law  he  often  saw  exam- 
ples of  this.  Some  poor  man  or  woman  would  come  in 
plunged  in  the  depths  of  discouragement,  bordering  upon 
despair,  and  upon  being  questioned,  would  conclude  that 
matters  could  not  possibly  be  worse,  whereupon  the  writer 
would  say,  then  this  is  the  time  for  you  to  give  three  hearty 
cheers,  for  if  matters  can  get  no  worse  you  have  certainly 
reached  the  turn  in  the  tide  and  they  must  surely  get  bet- 
ter, and  a  few  remarks  of  this  kind  would  often  so  change 
the  poor  person's  way  of  looking  at  things  that  he  would 
go  away  quite  hopeful  and  cheerful. 

A  man  once  rushed  in  to  a  friend  of  the  writer,  and  in 
tones  of  desperation,  told  him  that  the  most  awful  thing 
possible  had  just  happened  to  him,  that  as  he  drove  along 
the  road  a  tree  by  the  wayside  had  fallen  and  killed  his 
horse;  to  which  my  friend  replied,  "Down  on  your  knees 
you  ungrateful  fellow,  and  thank  God  for  your  wonderful 
escape !  Just  think  how  easily  you  might  have  been  killed 
instead  of  your  horse !  How  fortunate  you  are,  and  how 
thankful  you  should  be." 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE   GREAT    REPUBLIC  181 

Upon  several  occasions,  upon  ttfe  frontier,  circumstances 
were  such  as  to  bring  the  writer  into  intimate  association 
with  men  known  to  him  to  be  criminals  and  desperadoes, 
and  these  experiences  gave  him  a  higher  idea  of  human 
nature  than  he  had  ever  before  had,  for  in  these  poor  fel- 
lows he  found  so  much  of  good,  that  the  entire  human  fam- 
ily was  elevated  to  a  higher  plane,  than  ever  before,  in 
the  estimation  of  the  writer,  for  he  argued  that  if,  in  these, 
the  worst  of  men,  there  was  so  much  good,  certainly  the 
average  of  human  nature  was  better  than  he  had  supposed. 

A  wise  and  holy  man,  in  referring  to  some  one  who  had 
died,  remarked:  "Poor  man!  his  life  was  full  of  troubles — 
most  of  which  never  happened." 

Most  of  our  troubles  are  borrowed  troubles.  We  worry 
and  fret  for  fear  of  things  that  may  never  happen.  We 
are  apt  to  live  too  much  either  in  the  past  or  in  the  future, 
and  make  too  little  of  the  present  which  is  all  that  we  really 
have.  Many  of  us  are  ever  straining  after  some  great  future 
gain,  such  as  fame  or  fortune,  but  which  may  never  be  real- 
ized, and  each  day  is  spent  in  fuming  and  worry  with  dis- 
tress of  mind  to  ourselves  and  to  everyone  with  whom  we 
come  into  contact,  all  with  a  view  to  these  wonderful  things 
to  be  attained  in  the  future,  although  the  future  itself  may 
never  come  for  us  in  this  life.  In  the  meantime  we  forget 
that  as  the  Good  Book  tells  us,  "Now  is  the  acceptable 
time,"  and  that  if  we  make  the  most  of  each  day  as  it 
comes,  as  our  life  is  made  up  of  days,  so  our  whole  life  will 
be  happy  and  well  spent,  but  if  we  are  ever  dwelling  upon 
something  that  we  expect  to  gain  in  the  future,  to  the  neg- 
lect of  our  present  opportunities  for  good  and  happiness, 
our  entire  life  will  pass  away  in  a  succession  of  ill-spent 
and  unhappy  days. 


182  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

A  little  more  faith  in  the  goodness  of  an  Overruling  Prov- 
idence does  more  than  anything  else  to  fill  each  succeed- 
ing day  with  brightness,  hope  and  happiness,  for  one  will 
then  feel  that  he  relies  not  alone  upon  his  own  efforts,  with 
their  ever-varying  success,  but  upon  the  Almighty  Power 
that  rules  over  our  destinies,  and  guides  the  universe  and 
controls  and  directs  all  the  so-called  powers  of  nature, 
which  are  in  reality  merely  the  powers  of  Nature's  God. 

He  who  denies  the  existence  of  this  Great  Overruling 
Providence  of  the  Creator  talks  arrant  nonsense,  and  his 
every  act  and  word  belies  his  statement.  As  he  sees  the 
streams  flow  and  the  trees  and  plants  grow  today,  he  ex- 
pects to  see  them  flow  and  grow  tomorrow.  Why?  Because 
he  has  faith  in  the  great  Main  Spring  of  the  Clock  of  Na- 
ture, and  in  the  Hand  that  winds  this  clock,  which  is  neither 
more  nor  less  than  the  Hand  of  God,  Divine  Providence. 

"He  who  sows  the  seed  beneath  the  sod,  and  waits  to  see 
it  burst  the  clod,  he  trusts  in  God." 

The  sunshine  of  life  comes  from  within  and  is  shed 
around  them  by  those  who  are  happy,  and  is  not  absorbed 
from  without,  nor  does  it  depend  much  upon  their  sur- 
roundings, for  their  surroundings  reflect  the  brightness  of 
their  presence  wherever  they  go,  just  as  an  innocent,  happy 
child  contributes  to  the  happiness  of  everyone  who  is  near 
it,  although  it  is  quite  unconscious  that  it  is  doing  good 
wherever  it  goes,  like  the  bright  sunshine. 

Happiness  Cannot  Be  Bought  With  Money. 

A  wealthy  jobber  once  called  across  the  fence  to  his 
neighbor's  wife:  "You  have  something  that  I'd  give 
$1,000.00  for."  She  was  much  surprised,  and  said,  "I  had 
no  idea  that  I  have  anything  that  you  would  like  to  have." 
He  answered,  "Yes  you  have;  I'd  give  a  thousand  dollars 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  183 

for  that  laugh  of  your's.    If  I  could  laugh  the  way  you  do 
I  would  gladly  pay  a  thousand  dollars  for  it." 

Her  laugh  was  the  laugh  of  a  care-free  child,  for  she  was 
happy  and  free  from  care;  but  the  wealthy  business  man 
had  long  since  lost  that  happiness  and  freedom  from  care, 
and  all  the  money  in  the  world  could  never  buy  it  back 
again  for  him;  on  the  contrary,  the  more  money  he  made, 
the  more  care  he  had,  and  the  further  he  was  removed  from 
the  happiness  of  his  childhood  days.  Poor  fellow !  He  died 
a  few  years  later  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  his  wealth  could 
not  save  him.  A  near  relative  of  his  had  precisely  the  same 
experience;  they  both  began  with  nothing,  and  both  made 
fortunes,  but  both  lost  their  health  in  doing  so,  and  both 
died  comparatively  young. 

Why  Everybody  Loved  Little  Bessie. 

The  following  little  story,  from  an  old  school  reader  well 
illustrates  how  our  lives  are  what  we  make  them: 

A  fond  mother  once  asked  her  little  girl  if  she  knew  why 
everybody  loved  her.  The  little  one  looked  up  with  her 
habitual  sweet  smile,  and  with  childlike  simplicity  answered, 
"Why,  I  don't  know,  mamma,  unless  because  I  love  every- 
body." That  was  it  exactly;  the  child's  sweet,  amiable  dis- 
position, acting  up  others,  won  all  hearts,  and  all  those  with 
whom  she  came  into  contact  treated  her  much  as  she  treated 
them. 

The  Colored  Glass. 

Another  little  girl  once  ran  in  to  her  mamma  and  said 
that  all  the  other  children  were  so  cross  that  she  could  not 
play  with  them.  As  her  mother  had  her  doubts  on  the  sub- 
ject she  got  a  piece  of  yellow  glass  and  told  the  child  to 
look  through  it,  when  she  exclaimed,  "Why,  mamma,  you 


184  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

are  all  yellow;  why,  everything  is  yellow."  When  her 
mamma  removed  the  glass  she  saw  that  it  was  only  when 
she  looked  through  it  that  everything  looked  yellow.  The 
wise  mother,  having  given  her  little  one  this  object  lesson, 
said  to  her,  "That  is  just  the  way  with  our  eyes;  if  we  look 
at  others  with  kind  eyes  they  all  look  kind  to  us,  but  if  we 
look  at  them  with  cross  eyes  they  all  look  cross  to  us.  I 
am  afraid  that  my  little  girl  has  been  looking  at  the  other 
children  with  cross  eyes,  and  if  she  will  look  at  them  with 
kind  eyes,  I  am  sure  they  will  all  look  kind  to  her."  And 
so  it  was. 

What  Cured  Mike  of  the  Drink  Habit. 

One  day  Mrs.  Smith  went  to  the  parish  priest,  and  told  him 
that  her  husband,  Mike,  was  drinking  so  hard  and  abused  her 
so  much  that  she  thought  that  she  would  have  to  get  a  divorce 
from  him.  The  wise  old  priest  told  her  that  he  had  some 
miraculous  water  that  he  believed  would  cure  Mike  of 
drinking.  She  said  how  much  she  wished  she  had  some  of 
it,  for  if  it  was  not  for  drink,  Mike  would  be  all  right. 

The  good  priest  left  the  room  for  a  moment  and  returned 
with  a  bottle  of  water  which  he  gave  her  and  told  her  that 
the  water  was  very  precious  and  that  she  must  use  it  very 
carefully  and  exactly  as  he  directed.  She  at  once  promised 
him  that  she  would,  and  he  told  her  that  as  soon  as  she  saw 
Mike  coming  home  she  must  fill  her  mouth  full  of  water 
from  the  bottle  and  keep  it  full  as  long  as  Mike  was  there. 
So,  at  noon,  as  Mike  hove  in  sight  around  the  corner 
she  filled  her  mouth  full  of  the  miraculous  water. 
Mike  had  taken  a  drink  or  two  and  spoke  roughly  as  he 
came  in,  but  to  his  amazement,  Mrs.  Smith  did  not  say  a 
single  word,  as  her  mouth  was  full  of  water  and  she  could 
not  speak,  nor  did  she  speak  while  he  was  there,  which 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  185 

made  him  do  a  lot  of  thinking,  for  it  is  to  be  feared  that  she 
was  like  the  "Old  lady  of  Mould,  who  so  often  did  scold 
that  when  she  was  still,  folks  thought  she  was  ill,  and  pit- 
tied  that  lady  of  Mould." 

When  he  came  home  to  supper  he  was  perfectly  sober, 
and  after  his  wife  had  waited  on  him  at  table,  without  ever 
speaking  a  word,  for  her  mouth  was  full  of  the  "miraculous 
water"  again,  he  went  out  and  cut  some  kindlings  for  her 
and  carried  in  some  wood  for  the  first  time  in  years,  and  so 
it  went  on  day  by  day  as  long  as  the  water  in  the  bottle 
lasted,  and  when  it  was  gone,  Mrs.  Smith  returned  to  the 
priest  and  told  him  that  was  the  most  wonderful  water  she 
had  ever  heard  of,  that  Mike  had  not  touched  a  drop  of 
liquor  since  the  first  day  she  used  it,  and  no  man  could  be  a 
kinder  husband  than  he  was  now,  and  for  the  love  of  heaven 
to  give  her  another  bottle  of  that  water,  to  which  he  re- 
plied, "Now,  Mrs.  Smith,  when  your  mouth  is  full  of  that 
water  you  cannot  say  a  word  to  Mike,  can  you?"  "No, 
father,  not  a  single  word."  Then  he  remarked,  "If  you 
will  keep  your  mouth  shut  without  the  miraculous  water, 
it  will  .do  just  as  well."  And  she  did;  for  she  had  learned 
the  lesson. 

The  Earl  and  the  Miner. 

In  the  Cripple  Creek  mining  country  in  Idaho,  a  mine 
was  sold  to  an  English  earl  who  went  out  to  see  it.  A 
Western  miner,  knowing  that  he  was  the  owner,  thought  he 
would  show  him  some  deference  by  asking  him  where  to 
put  a  wagon  load  of  ore  that  he  was  hauling,  but  the  earl, 
instead  of  giving  a  civil  answer  to  his  civil  question,  tossed 
his  head  haughtily  back,  and  in  an  over-bearing,  insolent 
tone  of  voice  said,  "Why!  don't  you  know  who  I  am? 
I'm  the  earl."  Which  plainly  implied  that  he  considered 


186  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

it  presumptuous  in  the  poor  miner  to  dare  to  speak  to  him 
at  all.  But  his  haughtiness  met  with  a  sudden  check,  for 
the  miner,  without  an  instant's  hesitation,  yelled  out,  "To 
hell  with  you  earl!"  at  the  same  time  leaping  off  his  wagon 
and  making  a  rush  for  the  over-bearing  earl.  Then  there 
followed  a  lively  race  around  the  mine,  with  the  earl  in  the 
lead,  and  the  fact  that  he  was  the  better  sprinter  of  the  two 
was  all  that  saved  him  from  a  sound  thrashing  from  one  of 
his  own  employees. 

The  Captain  and  the  Frontiersman. 

A  number  of  years  ago,  a  captain  in  the  United  States 
regular  army,  while  marching  a  company  through  Montana, 
stopped  at  a  little  frontier  town  and  with  his  command  at 
"In  place  rest,"  he  addressed  a  frontiersman  in  a  very  in- 
solent manner  to  obtain  some  information  from  him.  The 
man  took  exception  to  his  way  of  addressing  him,  which 
led  to  hot  words,  and  the  frontiersman  told  the  captain  that 
if  he  would  lay  down  his  gun  he  would  "lick"  him  right 
in  front  of  his  company.  The  captain  fearing  that  he  would 
lose  standing  with  his  men  if  he  declined  the  challenge,  took 
off  his  revolver  and  advanced  to  the  combat.  True  to  his 
word,  the  frontiersman  "licked"  him  soundly  right  there 
in  front  of  his  company. 

How  the  Payroll  Was  Collected. 

A  mine  owner  from  the  "States"  who  had  allowed  the 
payroll  of  his  miners  to  get  badly  in  arrears,  although  well 
able  to  meet  it,  paid  a  visit  to  his  mine  and  went  down  the 
shaft;  the  men  kept  coming  and  going,  and  finally  wound 
up  with  one  man  only  down  below  with  the  owner;  and 
then  he,  too,  jumped  into  the  cage  and,  pulling  the  signal, 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  187 

and  was  quickly  hoisted  to  the  top  of  the  shaft.  The  "boys" 
then  let  down  a  check  filled  out  for  the  amount  of  the' 
payroll,  with  writing  material,  and  a  slip  of  paper  with  a 
note  stating  that  they  would  leave  him  down  there  until 
the  payroll  was  paid.  As  there  was  no  choice,  the  check 
was  signed  and  hauled  up.  Then  one  of  the  men  went  on 
horseback  to  the  nearest  town  and  cashed  the  check,  and  not 
until  they  saw  him  returning  with  the  money,  did  they  let 
up  the  owner. 

The  Dude  Engineer  and  His  Party. 

A  young  engineer  went  to  the  West  to  take  charge  of  an 
engineering  party.  His  idea  of  discipline  was  to  bully  his 
men,  and  all  the  morning  of  the  first  day  he  bullied  and 
drove  them.  They  were  so  surprised  that  they  did  nothing 
to  resent  it  before  noon,  then  they  held  a  consultation  during 
lunch,  and  when  the  young  man  began  to  bully  them  again 
in  the  afternoon,  a  couple  of  the  men  seized  him  and  threw 
him  into  the  creek  near  by. 

He  took  the  hint;  went  to  camp,  changed  his  clothes,  and 
left  that  part  of  the  country. 

The  writer  has  been  much  among  these  frontiersmen,  in 
lumber  camps,  in  mining  camps,  and  on  the  cattle  ranges 
and  has  found  them  kind  hearted,  hospitable  and  generous 
to  a  fault,  but  he  who  mistakes  them  for  worms  who  will 
not  turn  when  trodden  upon,  is  likely  to  meet  with  expe- 
riences like  those  recorded  above,  for  attempts  to  impose 
upon  them  are  about  as  foolish  as  triffling  with  the  heels 
of  a  mule  or  with  a  hornet's  nest. 

The  Lion  and  the  Artist. 

Rosa  Bonheur,  the  celebrated  animal  painter,  kept  in  her 
home,  as  a  household  pet,  a  huge  African  lion  that  had  been 


188  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

captured  in  a  savage  state,  and  she  used  to  say,  that  if 
you  wish  to  be  loved  by  savage  beasts,  you  must  really  love 
them,  and  the  devoted  affection  of  her  lion,  Nero,  was  a 
striking  proof  of  this.  During  a  prolonged  absence,  poor 
Nero  became  ill  and  blind  from  neglect,  and  some  time 
after  her  return  he  literally  died  in  her  arms,  with  his 
great,  shaggy  head  pillowed  in  her  lap. 

The  Stage  Driver  and  the  Balky  Horse. 

A  stage  driver  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  told  the  writer 
that  one  day  one  of  the  four  horses  that  he  was  driving  was 
known  to  him  to  be  balky.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was 
obliged  to  reach  his  destination  with  the  United  States  mail 
at  a  certain  time,  if  at  all  possible,  as  the  stage  company 
would  be  heavily  fined  for  delay.  For  a  time  all  went  well ; 
but  before  long,  while  ascending  a  hill,  the  balky  horse 
began  to  hang  back,  and  the  driver  knew  what  was  coming, 
if  he  balked.  He  also  knew  that  any  attempt  to  force  him 
would  be  fatal.  Therefore,  instead  ~of  urging  him,  or  using 
the  whip,  he  quickly  pulled  in  the  reins  and  put  on  the 
brakes  before  the  horse  had  a  chance  to  stop  of  his  own 
accord.  This  broke  the  balk,  for  a  horse  balks  to  be  "con- 
trary," and  to  do  what  you  don't  want  him  to  do.  So  as 
soon  as  the  horse  thought  the  driver  wished  him  to  stop, 
he  lost  interest  in  it  and  was  ready  to  go  head.  The  driver 
held  him  back  a  moment,  and  when  he  let  him  go  he  soon 
made  up  for  lost  time.  This  was  repeated  several  times, 
and  each  time,  by  stopping  before  the  horse  had  a  chance 
to  stop  of  his  own  accord,  the  balk  was  broken,  and  the  mail 
arrived  on  time.  Just  as  a  wrestler,  by  pushing  or  pulling 
against  his  adversary  for  a  time,  and  then  suddenly  push- 
ing or  pulling  the  same  way  he  does,  may  often  throw  him 
off  his  feet,  by  making  him  help  to  throw  himself.  Like 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  189 

the  wise  wife  who  once  remarked  to  the  writer,  "Joe  thinks 
he  always  does  just  as  he  pleases,  but  he  really  does  every- 
thing I  want  him  to." 

The  Lady  and  the  Puppy  Dog. 

A  lady  well  known  to  the  writer,  frequently  had  occa- 
sion to  pass  a  house  where  there  was  a  Newfoundland 
puppy  dog,  and  she  thought  it  very  funny  to  frighten  the 
little  fellow  and  see  him  run,  and  this  is  where  she  made  a 
great  mistake;  for  about  a  year  later,  when  he  was  quite 
a  well  grown  dog,  he  had  not  forgotten  the  fun  she  used 
to  have  at  his  expense,  and  his  turn  had  come,  and  he  at- 
tacked her  so  fiercely  at  every  opportunity,  that  she  never 
dared  to  pass  there  without  an  escort. 

The  Elephant  and  His  Tormentor. 

A  young  man  was  visiting  a  friend  in  India  who  owned 
a  fine  elephant,  and  the  foolish  young  fellow  thought  it 
very  funny  to  play  a  number  of  pranks  upon  the  poor  beast 
which  caused  him  much  annoyance,  and  the  elephant  seemed 
helpless,  but  he  quietly  bided  his  time;  and  one  day,  when 
the  young  man  was  passing  quite  close  to  him,  as  quick  as 
a  flash  he  threw  his  trunk  around  his  waist,  and  raising  the 
terrified  young  fellow  high  in  the  air,  he  threw  him  away 
with  such  force  that  he  landed  in  a  mud  puddle  some  dis- 
tance off.  It  was  now  the  elephant's  turn  to  laugh,  and 
the  young  man  concluded  that  it  was  about  time  to  ter- 
minate his  visit,  which  he  accordingly  did  without  further 
delay.  The  tables  were  turned  upon  him  as  completely  as 
they  were  upon  the  young  city  chap  in  the  mountains  who 
undertook  to  show  off  before  some  girls  by  running  at  a 
flock  of  goats  to  scare  them  and  see  them  run  away,  but  he 


190  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

• 

had  miscalculated  the  nature  of  the  beast,  and  to  his 
horror,  and  to  the  great  amusement  of  the  girls,  in- 
stead of  running  away  from  him,  the  whole  flock,  with 
horns  down,  suddenly  charged  at  him,  and  he  had  to  run, 
as  he  had  never  done  before,  to  escape  serious  injury  or 
destruction.  He  was  in  somewhat  the  same  predicament  as 
the  dog.  whose  master  had  set  him  upon  a  racoon.  In  a 
moment  both  were  out  of  sight,  and  the  owner,  running 
after  them,  met  some  wood  choppers,  and  asked  them  if  they 
had  seen  a  dog  and  a  coon  pass  by,  and  if  so,  how  were 
they;  to  which  they  replied  that  the  dog  was  just  a  little 
ahead  of  the  coon. 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  191 


CHAPTER  XII. 
Causes  and  Remedy  of  Hard  Times. 

Some  of  the  principal  causes  of  hard  times  may  be  illus- 
trated by  recalling  the  experience  of  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  which 
led  up  to  the  hard  times  during  the  eighties  of  the  last 
century. 

For  a  number  of  years  the  city  was  issuing  bonds  for  all 
kinds  of  local  improvements,  such  as  street  grading,  sewers, 
pavements,  sidewalks,  etc.  At  the  same  time  the  railroads 
running  into  the  city  were  also  placing  large  quantities  of 
bonds  for  railway  work.  Private  individuals  and  business 
firms  were  raising  quantities  of  money  for  buildings  and 
for  enlarging  their  plants.  This  money  was  borrowed  al- 
most entirely  upon  real  estate  mortgages. 

All  these  causes  brought  a  great  deal  of  money  into  the 
city  and  into  the  hands  of  contractors  and  business  men  in 
the  city.  Money  was  plenty  and  a  veritable  business 
"boom"  was  on  and  everyone  seemed  prosperous.  But  this 
apparent  prosperity  was  caused  by  the  borrowed  money 
that  was  in  circulation,  and  as  long  as  the  supply  held  out 
the  "boom"  continued.  But  when  it  had  all  been  spent, 
and  no  more  could  be  raised,  the  change  came.  Interest  on 
city  bonds  became  due  and  had  to  be  paid  out  of  the  taxes 
collected  from  the  people.  Interest  also  became  due  on 
railroad  bonds  and  had  to  be  paid  out  of  their  earnings, 
leaving  no  money  at  all  for  further  improvements,  so  that 
the  army  of  men  who  had  been  working  for  the  railroads  in 
making  extensions  and  improvements  were  thrown  out  of 


192  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

employment.  Then  payments  of  interest  became  due  upon 
the  many  real  estate  mortgages,  and  rents  and  earnings  of 
business  houses  had  to  go  to  Eastern  capitalists  and  loan 
companies  from  whom  the  money  had  been  borrowed.  All 
this  brought  about  a  state  of  affairs  during  which  a  very 
large  part  of  the  rents,  profits  and  earnings  of  both  indi- 
viduals and  corporations  had  to  be  sent  out  of  the  city  to 
pay  obligations  raised  at  the  time  when  money  was  so 
plentiful ;  then  plenty  of  money  was  coming  in  from  outside 
of  the  city  to  be  spent  among  the  citizens;  now  it  was  go- 
ing out  in  large  quantities  to  pay  back  that  borrowed 
money. 

Before  very  long  the  principal  on  bonds  and  mortgages 
also  fell  due  and  money  in  still  larger  quantities  had  to  be 
raised  to  meet  these  payments,  and  as  little  or  no  more 
money  could  then  be  borrowed,  it  had  to  come  out  of  the 
ordinary  earnings,  rents  and  taxes  of  the  community.  All 
this  made  money  very  scarce  and  brought  on  a  period  of 
hard  times  which  lasted  for  several  years.  Among  other 
evils  of  these  hard  times  many  mortgages  were  foreclosed 
and  for  years  afterwards  the  rents  from  the  properties 
which  had  been  taken  by  Eastern  parties  under  mortgage 
foreclosures  were  sent  out  of  the  city,  causing  another  leak. 

It  all  simply  amounted  to  this:  The  boom  had  been 
brought  about  by  having  plenty  of  borrowed  money  to 
spend ;  the  hard  times  came  when  it  became  necessary  to  pay 
back  this  money. 

The  lesson  to  be  learned  from  this  is  plain  enough:  Bor- 
rowed money  does  not  bring  real,  but  only  apparent  good 
times;  and  unless  very  careful  calculations  are  made  to 
provide  for  the  repayment  of  the  borrowed  money,  hard 
times  must  follow  when  the  time  for  payment  arrives,  both 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE   GREAT    REPUBLIC  193 

for  private  individuals  and  corporations,  and  also  for  cities 
or  other  municipalities. 

While  the  writer  was  in  Portland,  Ore.,  in  1895,  The  Ore- 
gonian,  a  leading  newspaper  of  Portland  sent  out  100  letters 
to  men  of  as  many  different  occupations  and  conditions  in 
life  as  could  be  reached  in  this  way,  asking  them  to  give 
their  ideas  as  to  the  best  way  to  avoid  periods  of  hard  times. 

One  of  the  best  written  of  the  answers  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  most  effective  way  to  prevent  hard  times 
would  be  to  abolish  all  laws  for  the  collection  of  debts.  It 
is  evident  that  the  writer  had  become  impressed  by  the  fact 
that  the  borrowing  of  money  without  due  provision  for  its 
repayment,  or  any  careless  running  into  debt,  was  the  prin- 
cipal cause  of  hard  times,  and  this  writer  believes  that  he 
was  right. 

No  doubt  a  more  equitable  way  would  be  to  materially 
modify  our  bankruptcy  laws,  or  rather  abolish  them,  and  so 
modify  our  statutes  of  limitations  in  regard  to  the  payments 
of  debts,  as  to  provide  that  all  debts  of  every  description 
whatsoever,  should  expire,  without  the  power  to  revive 
them,  even  by  mutual  consent  of  the  parties  in  interest,  at 
midnight  on  every  even  tenth  year  of  the  Gregorian  cal- 
endar, the  one  now  in  general  use. 

Under  the  provisions  of  the  present  bankruptcy  laws 
anyone  can  go  through  bankruptcy  at  any  time  that  he  is 
unable  to  pay  off  his  obligations  in  full,  and  this  may  work 
great  hardship  upon  the  creditors,  who  can  never  know 
when  a  debtor  may  go  through  bankruptcy.  Moreover,  this 
proceeding  may  result  in  the  sacrifice  of  assets,  which  a 
little  later  might  be  ample  to  pay  off  all  the  debtor's  obli- 
gations. Our  statutes  of  limitations  also  provide  that  after 
the  lapse  of  several  years  after  a  debt  has  been  contracted 
it  shall  expire  by  operation  of  law,  unless  renewed  by  the 


194 

consent  of  the  debtor.  As  these  periods  vary  in  different 
states,  and  for  different  kinds  of  obligations,  there  is  no 
definite  period  of  settlement,  and  no  creditor  can  say,  with 
any  confidence,  what  assets  are  available  and  what  are 
worthless,  for  those  which  appear  good  today,  may  have 
vanished  tomorrow. 

By  having  a  definite  time  when  all  obligations  of  every 
description  shall  absolutely  expire  by  operation  of  law,  with- 
out the  power  of  renewal,  even  by  consent  of  the  parties  in 
interest,  a  fixed  period  of  settlement  of  all  accounts  will  be 
known  to  everyone,  and  everybody  will  have  ample  oppor- 
tunity to  make  his  arrangements  accordingly,  and  much  of 
the  injustice  and  hardship  resulting  from  the  present  stat- 
utes of  limitations  and  bankruptcy  laws  will  be  done  away 
with. 

This  provision  for  having  a  fixed  time,  at  stated  periods, 
known  to  everyone,  is  a  suggestion  founded  upon  one  of  the 
wisest  provisions  of  the  Mosaic  law. 

Within  recent  years  hard  times  have  been  caused  by  the 
accumulation  of  most  of  the  ready  money  of  the  country 
in  a  few  central  banks  for  the  benefit  of  the  arch  gamblers 
of  the  country,  who  kept  it  out  of  circulation,  for  the  delib- 
erate purpose  of  making  money  scarce,  in  order  to  cause 
securities  of  all  kinds  to  be  thrown  upon  the  market  at 
reduced  prices  to  enable  their  owners  to  raise  money  much 
needed.  This  may  be  prevented  by  providing  for  keeping 
money  deposited  in  banks  in  the  communities  in  which  it 
belongs.  When  the  larger  banks  will  not  do  this  it  may  be 
effected  by  the  organization  of  other  banks  by  the  deposit- 
ors, with  the  proviso  that  no  money  shall  be  loaned  outside 
of  the  county  or  state  in  which  the  bank  is  located.  This 
has  been  successfully  done  in  a  number  of  communities. 


DOWNFALL    OP   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  195 

A  Guarantee  Against  Misfortune. 

The  old  philosopher,  Epictetus,  promised  to  all  those  who 
would  listen  to  him  to  preserve  them  from  every  evil.  His 
method  was  very  simple  and  most  effective.  He  undertook 
to  show  his  hearers  that  nothing  was  an  evil  unless  it  was 
disgraceful,  and  that  every  event  was  either  good  or  evil 
according  to  our  manner  of  dealing  with  it,  and  that  noth- 
ing in  life  was  of  itself  either  good  or  evil;  in  a  word,  that 
the  good  or  evil  in  anything  depended,  not  upon  the  thing 
or  event  itself,  but  upon  us;  that  is,  that  the  good  or  evil 
came  from  us  and  was  imparted  by  us  to  whatever  we  came 
into  contact  with.  While  this  is  not  absolutely  true,  it  is 
absolutely  true  to  the  extent  that  everything  in  life  is  to  us 
good  or  evil  according  to  our  way  of  dealing  with  it,  and 
consequently  whether  our  surroundings  are  good  or  evil 
to  us  depends,  not  upon  the  nature  or  character  of  these 
surroundings,  but  upon  ourselves. 

When  the  sun  shines  hot  upon  us,  none  but  a  fool  will 
waste  his  breath  in  cursing  the  sun,  while  a  person  of  sense 
simply  seeks  the  shade.  So  in  all  human  events,  to  curse 
and  bewail  at  events  that  are  beyond  our  control  is  folly, 
and  anyone  of  good  sense  "gets  from  under"  and  avoids 
what  he  cannot  overcome,  or  if  that  is  impossible,  he  ac- 
cepts it  as  he  would  a  day  of  disagreeable  weather,  as 
something  that  he  must  make  the  most  of. 

A  certain  clergyman  was  in  the  habit  of  telling  his  hearers 
that  there  were  two  classes  of  events  that  we  should  never 
worry  about.  First,  everything  that  could  be  remedied,  for 
nothing  could  be  more  foolish  than  to  worry  about  an  evil 
that  could  be  removed;  second,  anything  that  could  not  be 
remedied,  for  nothing  was  more  foolish  than  to  worry  about 
what  could  not  be  helped,  for  it  was  useless. 


196  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

To  quote  a  few  words  of  wisdom  from  "Mother  Goose:" 
"What  can't  be  cured  must  be  endured,"  and  again:  "For 
every  evil  under  the  sun  there  is  a  remedy  or  there  is  none. 
If  there  is  one  try  to  find  it.  If  there  is  none  never  mind 
it."  And  to  quote  from  the  ancients:  "Conduct  me  Zeus 
and  thou,  O !  Destiny  where  'er  your  decrees  have  fixed  my 
lot ;  I  follow  cheerfully,  and  did  I  not,  wicked  and  wretched, 
I  must  follow  still,"  which  is  merely  a  crude  way  of  ex- 
pressing what  has  been  much  better  told  to  us  by  the  Great 
Teacher  of  mankind  in  His  maxims  on  forbearance,  Chris- 
tian charity  and  resignation. 

Success  In  Life  Guaranteed. 

Complete  success  in  life  is  within  reach  of  all,  but  before 
we  can  understand  this  we  must  establish  a  standard  by 
which  the  measure  of  success  in  life  can  be  taken.  At  first 
sight  this  will  appear  to  be  a  difficult  task,  as  there  appear 
to  be  so  many  different  standards  of  success.  To  the  mil- 
lionaire, the  great  goal  to  be  reached  is  to  have  all  the 
money  possible;  to  the  conqueror,  it  is  ambition,  with  many 
great  victories,  and  he  wishes  to  subdue  all  others  under 
his  control ;  the  philanthropic  and  charitable  wish  to  relieve 
all  suffering  and  poverty  in  the  world;  to  those  of  affec- 
tionate dispositions  the  joys  of  happy  home  life  are  the 
greatest  attraction;  while  to  the  hermit  and  the  stoic  to 
get  on  with  as  little  as  possible  of  the  goods  of  this  world, 
appears  to  be  the  greatest  good,  the  former  from  religious 
and  supernatural  motives,  the  latter  from  selfish  motives, 
because  it  saves  trouble  and  worry. 

Possibly  the  greatest  contrast  ever  seen  in  human  life 
was  at  the  meeting  of  Alexander  the  Great  and  Diogenes 
the  Cynic.  Alexander  was  one  of  the  greatest  conquerors 
known  to  history,  who  had  subjugated  all  the  nations  with 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  197 

which  he  could  come  into  contact.  Diogenes  dispised 
everything  in  the  way  of  ordinary  comforts,  and  consid- 
ered all  those  wrho  prized  them  as  mean  and  contemptible. 
In  bad  weather  he  lay  under  a  tub  for  shelter,  and  when 
it  was  fine  he  warmed  himself  in  the  sunshine.  He  wore 
scarcely  any  clothing,  and  took  as  little  food  as  would  sus- 
tain his  life  and  strength. 

Alexander,  having  heard  of  Diogenes,  went  out  of  bis 
way  to  see  him,  for  Diogenes  would  not  have  crossed  the 
road  to  see  Alexander.  When  they  met,  Diogenes  was  found 
lying  on  the  ground,  warming  himself  in  the  sunshine. 
Alexander  approached  and  looked  at  him  with  much  inter- 
est, but  Diogenes  paid  not  the  slightest  attention  to  the 
emperor,  who  finally  asked  him  if  there  was  any  favor  that 
he  could  do  him;  for  it  was  in  his  power  to  bestow  upon 
him  vast  wealth,  or  make  him  the  ruler  of  great  provinces. 
Diogenes  said,  yes,  he  could  do  him  a  favor.  Alexander 
asked  him  what  it  was,  to  which  Diogenes  replied,  "You 
may  stand  to  one  side  and  not  keep  the  sun  from  shining  on 
me."  Alexander,  filled  with  amazement  and  admiration 
that  Diogenes  should  have  such  utter  contempt  for  all  that 
he  himself  prized  most  highly,  said,  "Were  I  not  Alexander, 
I  should  wish  to  be  Diogenes." 

Now,  is  there  any  standard  of  success  in  life  that  applies 
to  everybody?  Yes;  surely  the  one  thing  that  we  all  wish 
for  in  life,  is  happiness.  While  the  ideas  of  happiness  are 
almost  as  numerous  as  the  individuals  in  the  world,  happi- 
ness is  what  all  seek.  Then  the  question  arises,  is  there  any 
key  to  happiness  by  which  everyone  can  unlock  its  treas- 
ures? Any  "philosopher's  stone"  which,  by  its  touch,  will 
turn  everything  into  the  pure  gold  of  happiness?  As  we 
have  already  seen  that  happiness  comes  from  within,  and  not 
from  without,  and  that  it  depends  upon  each  one  individ- 


198  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

ually,  and  not  upon  his  surroundings,  it  follows  that  happi- 
ness is  within  the  reach  of  all.  Diogenes,  who  had  volun- 
tarily deprived  himself  of  all  that  most  men  prize  in  life, 
was  undoubtedly  possessed  of  an  independence  and  freedom 
from  care  which  brought  him  nearer  to  the  goal  of  happi- 
ness than  Alexander  who  possessed  nearly  all  that  earth 
could  give  him  in  the  way  of  material  things. 

As  happiness  is  the  only  true  standard  of  success,  and 
we  see  that  happiness  is  within  reach  of  all,  it  follows  that 
the  only  real  success  is  within  reach  of  all. 

We  have  seen  that  those  who  contribute  to  the  comfort 
and  happiness  of  others  readily  gain  the  good  will  and  the 
affection  of  others,  not  only  among  human  beings,  but  even 
among  the  beasts  of  the  field,  which  reacts,  causing  all  to 
contribute  to  the  happiness  of  the  one  who  considers  their 
comfort  and  happiness ;  it  therefore  follows  that  anyone  may 
secure  the  co-operation  of  all  those  with  whom  he  comes 
into  contact  towards  the  advancement  of  his  own  welfare 
and  happiness,  all  of  which  may  be  summed  up  in  the  words 
of  the  Savior  who  said  that  the  First  Commandemnt  is, 
"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  thy  whole  heart;" 
and  the  second  is,  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self." 

We  have  seen  that  to  disregard  the  laws  of  nature  leads 
to  destruction,  •  even  in  this  life,  and  that  the  Creator  is 
the  Main  Spring  and  Motive  Power  back  of  all  nature,  and 
the  Source  of  All  Good,  and  that  in  obeying  and  loving  Him 
we  are  simply  loving  our  own  good  and  our  own  happiness, 
and  therefore  the  Second  Commandment  is  simply,  "The 
Golden  Rule." 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  199 

» 

GENIUS. 

Genius,  that  power  which  dazzles  mortal  eyes 
Is  oft  but  perseverance  in  disguise; 
Continuous  effort  of  itself  implies, 
In  spite  of  countless  falls,  the  power  to  arise. 

Twixt  failure  and  success  the  point's  so  fine, 
Men  know  not  sometimes  when  they  touch  the  line: 
Just  where  the  pearl  was  waiting  one  more  plunge, 
How  many  a  struggler  has  thrown  up  the  sponge. 

As  the  tide  goes  clear  out,  it  comes  clear  in; 
In  business,  'tis  at  times  the  wisest  win, 
And  Oh!  how  true  when  shades  of  cloud  dismay; 
Tis  often  darkest  just  before  the  day. 

A  little  more  persistence,  courage,  vim, 
Success  will  dawn  o'er  fortune's  golden  rim; 
Then  take  this  honey  for  your  bitterest  cup— 
There  is  no  failure  save  in  giving  up. 

No  real  fall  as  long  as  one  still  tries; 

For  seeming  setbacks  make  the  strong  man  wise. 

There's  no  defeat  save  from  within; 

Unless  your  beaten  there  you'r  sure  to  win. 

— Henrv   Austin. 


200  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

• 

THE  MAN  WHO  WINS. 

The  man  who  wins  is  an  average  man: 

Not  built  on  any  peculiar  plan, 

Not  blest  with  any  peculiar  luck; 

Just  steady  and  earnest  and  full  of  pluck. 

When  asked  a  question  he  does  not  "guess" — 
He  knows  and  answers  "no"  or  "yes;" 
When  set  a  task  that  the  rest  can't  do, 
He  buckles  down  till  he's  put  it  through. 

Three  things  he's  learned:    the  man  who  tries 
Finds  favor  in  his  employer's  eyes; 
That  it  pays  to  know  more  than  one  thing  well; 
That  it  doesn't  pay  all  he  knows  to  tell. 

So  he  works  and  waits ;  till  some  fine  day 
There's  a  better  job  with  bigger  pay, 
And  the  men  who  shirked  whenever  they  could 
Are  bossed  by  the  man  whose  work  made  good. 

For  the  man  who  wins  is  the  man  who  works, 
Who  neither  labor  nor  trouble  shirks 
Who  uses  his  hands,  his  head,  his  eyes ; 
The  man  who  wins  is  the  man  who  tries. 

— Charles  R.  Barrett. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  201 

Some  Examples  of  Thrift. 

A  young  bride  who  was  married  to  a  prosperous  whole- 
sale merchant,  instead  of  spending  her  spare  time  in  gos- 
siping with  her  neighbors  over  the  back  fence,  or  in  mak- 
ing calls,  or  shopping,  thought  to  herself,  why  should  she  be 
idle  when  not  occupied  with  her  household  duties.  She  had 
been  brought  up  to  use  her  needle  skilfully  and  she  reflected 
that  she  might  as  well  turn  her  knowledge  to  account.  So 
she  set  diligently  to  work  upon  hemstitched  work  and  upon 
Mexican  drawn  work,  and  took  her  work  to  the  local 
women's  work  exchange,  where  it  sold  readily  at  good 
prices,  and  soon  she  had  more  orders  for  this  kind  of  work 
than  she  could  fill,  and  in  this  way  she  made  a  lot  of  spend- 
ing money  for  herself,  and  she  saw  that  in  case  of  need 
she  would  be  able  to  take  care  of  herself. 

After  a  few  years  of  married  life  her  husband  died  leav- 
ing her  with  three  little  children  to  provide  for.  The  little 
mother  went  bravely  to  work  and  spent  much  of  her  time  at 
night  in  caring  for  thirteen  babies  at  an  orphanage,  leaving 
her  own  little  ones  with  her  mother  and  sisters  at  night.  It 
was  a  severe  tax  upon  her  energies,  but  she  persevered  until 
she  was  able  to  furnish  quite  a  large  house  in  which  she 
rented  rooms. 

Whenever  there  was  a  convention  or  other  gathering  in 
the  city  she  filed  her  name  with  the  information  bureaus 
whose  business  it  was  to  provide  accomodations  for  the  vis- 
itors, and  she  nearly  always  had  all  available  space  in  her 
house  occupied  at  such  times,  and  furnished  meals  to  the 
strangers  also. 

When,  for  any  cause,  some  of  her  rooms  were  vacant,  she 
would  furnish  table  board  also  to  the  occupants  of  her 
rooms,  and  as  she  set  a  good  table  at  reasonable  rates,  she 


202  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

could  always  get  as  many  as  she  could  accommodate  at  her 
tables. 

At  times  she  took  a  number  of  children  to  board  and  she 
found  that  she  could  always  find  parents  who  were  un- 
able to  give  their  children  proper  care  at  home,  for  one 
reason  or  another,  who  were  glad  to  have  them  cared  for  in 
a  good  hfane. 

Now  her  three  children  are  growing  up  and  are  able  to 
greatly  reduce  her  financial  cares  by  thefr  earnings,  and 
by  faithful  work  in  their  positions  they  are  being  advanced 
as  rapidly  as  circumstances  will  admit. 

The  writer  once  asked  her  what  she  would  do  if  all  her 
children,  two  boys  and  a  girl,  should  marry,  to  which  she 
replied,  "Don't  you  fear.  I  would  soon  have  enough  chil- 
dren to  board  with  me  to  pay  my  expenses." 

Another  woman,  whose  husband  was  in  reduced  circum- 
stances, finally  lost  him  after  he  had  bravely  taken  up  the 
work  of  a  policeman,  as  he  was  killed  while  in  the  perform- 
ance of  his  duty,  leaving  her  with  a  little  boy  to  support. 
She  promptly  opened  a  "doll's  hospital"  where  she  ex- 
ercised such  skill  in  repairing  broken  dolls  that  she  found 
enough  work  to  support  her  and  her  child  and  to  educate 
him  until  he  was  old  enough  to  be  a  help  to  her. 

While  she  was  in  dire  straits  for  the  means  of  livelihood, 
some  well-to-do  women  gave  her  some  old  clothing  and 
millinery  which  she  made  over  for  herself  so  skillfully  that 
a  woman  of  means  remarked  of  her  that  she  was  the  best 
dressed  woman  in  the  city. 

How  few  girls  in  the  United  States  are  now  brought  up  to 
be  skilful  in  the  useful  arts  of  sewing,  embroidery,  spinning, 
weaving,  knitting,  tatting,  lace  making,  quilting  and  darn- 
ing. Yet  all  these  arts  are  just  as  useful  to  those  who  are 
skilful  in  them,  as  ever  they  were,  and  there  are  but  few 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  203 

girls  living  at  home,  either  on  farms  or  in  the  cities,  who 
could  not  easily  earn  at  least  fifty  cents  a  day  by  these 
means  without  interfering  with  their  other  duties  or  reason- 
able amusements.  Leaving  out  Sundays  and  holidays  this 
would  be  upwards  of  $150  a  year,  $600  for  a  family  of  four 
children,  and  $1,200  a  year  for  a  family  of  eight  children. 

The  writer  knew  of  a  case  of  a  woman  who  had  been 
brought  up  in  the  habit  of  enjoying  many  of  the  comforts 
of  life,  but  was  thrown  entirely  upon  her  own  resources 
for  a  livelihood.  She  got  a  jig-saw,  sometimes  called  a  fret- 
work saw,  with  which  she  made  many  little  articles  both 
useful  and  ornamental,  which  she  easily  sold  and  by  this 
means  earned  enough  to  support  her  at  the  best  hotel  in  the 
city,  and  she  did  all  the  work  in  her  own  room. 

If  every  girl  belonged  to  a  sewing  club  in  which  all  these 
arts  were  practiced  and  encouraged,  while  contributing 
much  to  the  social  lives  of  the  members,  how  much  it  would 
mean,  especially  in  the  homes  of  so  many  millions  in  which 
there  is  not  much  money  to  spare. 

In  some  countries,  when  farmers  go  to  market,  a  consider- 
able part  of  what  they  take  with  them  is  articles  that  have 
been  knit,  woven  or  otherwise  made  up  at  home,  and  these 
add  very  substantially  to  the  income  of  the  family. 

A  Wise  Economic  Rule  of  Expenditures. 

A  young  man  when  about  to  leave  home  was  given  the 
following  advice  by  his  father,  which  it  seems  difficult  to 
improve  upon  in  its  line. 

The  father  said;  "My  son,  if  you  will  live  up  to  the  rule 
of  life  that  I  am  about  to  give  you  it  will  save  you  from  all 
the  worry  and  anxiety  about  money  matters  that  spoil  so 
many  lives:  First;  make  a  careful  estimate  of  the  least 
amount  of  money  that  will  cover  your  necessary  living  ex- 


204  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

penses,  leaving  out  all  the  comforts  and  amusements  of 
life.  That  amount  you  must,  have,  but  whatever  you  obtain 
over  and  above  that,  always  divide  it  in  two  equal  parts, 
one-half  to  be  carefully  laid  by,  never  to  be  used  until  you 
finally  retire  from  business,  unless,  by  some  absolute  necess- 
ity you  should  be  compelled  to  draw  upon  it.  Use  the  other 
half  to  add  to  your  reasonable  comforts  and  enjoyments." 

If  you  find  that  you  can  meet  your  necessary  living  ex- 
penses with  $25  a  month,  and  your  salary  or  income  is 
$125  you  would  spend  $75  and  save  $50  a  month.  If  you 
receive  $75  a  month,  you  would  spend  $50  and  save  $25  each 
month  and  if  your  earnings  are  $225  a  month  you  would 
spend  $125  and  save  $100,  and  in  the  same  proportion  for 
smaller  or  larger  amounts,  so  that  when  you  reach  middle 
life  you  can  retire  from  active  work  or  business  and  live 
just  as  well  or  even  better  than  you  did  before,  and  at  all 
times  you  can  feel  that  while  making  a  suitable  provision  for 
your  old  age  you  have  not  been  penurious  or  miserly  but 
have  had  a  reasonable  amount  of  the  comforts  and  enjoy- 
ments of  life  with  as  little  care  and  anxiety  as  possible 
about  business  matters. 

In  the  United  States  systematic  saving  is  not  practiced 
as  it  is  in  other  countries  of  the  world,  consequently  here 
we  are  often  in  the  greatest  distress  on  account  of  hard 
times,  while  in  such  countries  as  France,  Bavaria  and  Hol- 
land they  are  so  well  prepared  for  anything  of  that  kind 
that  it  causes  them  no  discomfort  whatever  and  they  can 
go  through  years  of  poor  crops  and  business  depression  with- 
out any  discomfort  whatever.  In  France  practically  every 
man,  woman  and  child  has  an  accumulation  of  savings,  no 
matter  how  small,  and  almost  every  one  owns  government 
bonds,  which  are  always  the  safest  of  all  investments,  hav- 
ing the  credit  of  the  entire  nation  back  of  them. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  205 

Those  who  follow  such  a  rule  as  that  given  above,  and 
save  a  part  of  their  earnings  and  invest  them  in  municipal, 
state  or  United  States  bonds  exclusively  and  keep  out  of 
debt,  and  avoid  the  temptation  to  go  into  speculative  in- 
vestments which  ruin  so  many,  will  enjoy  a  peace  and  com- 
fort unknown  to  those  who  are  slaves  to  the  craze  to  get 
rich  quickly,  which  but  very  rarely  succeeds  and  even  then 
very  commonly  at  a  cost  in  shattered  nerves  and  loss  of 
peace  of  mind  which  the  greatest  fortune  can  never  pay 
for. 

After  all,  riches  and  poverty  are  entirely  relative,  and  a 
man  is  rich  or  poor  only  by  comparison  with  others,  and 
still  more  by  comparison  with  his  wants,  and  it  has  been  tru- 
ly said  that  a  man  is  poor  so  long  only  as  he  wishes  for  more 
than  he  has,  for  when  a  man's  wants  are  supplied  he  is  rich 
whether  his  wants  are  great  or  small,  and  it  is  equally  true 
that  a  man  who  wants  more  than  he  has  is  poor,  even  if  he 
has  millions. 

Why  Building-  Societies  Failed.     The  Remedy. 

Excepting  for  one  fatal  error  to  be  found  in  nearly  all  of 
them,  building  societies  were  one  of  the  finest  devices  ever 
planned  for  persons  who  could  not  secure  homes  by  any 
other  method  than  upon  the  instalment  plan,  and  today 
thousands  of  families  are  obtaining  homes  in  this  way,  and 
hundreds  of  capitalists  are  making  fortunes  by  providing 
these  homes. 

The  error  which  ruined  nearly  all  the  building*  societies 
was  the  withdrawal  privilege  which  allowed  members  to 
get  their  money  back  before  the  end  of  the  regular  term 
for  their  series  of  stock. 


206  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

Estimates  were  correctly  made  showing  the  large  profits 
to  be  made  by  investing  certain  sums  of  money  for  a  term 
of  years  at  compound  interest,  and  due  allowance  was 
usually  made  for  the  expense  of  management.  But  when 
investors  withdrew  their  money  before  the  end  of  their 
term,  most 'of  the  profits,  which  had  been  so  carefully  calcu- 
lated and  which  had  been  relied  upon,  were  lost,  and  where 
there  should  have  been  large  gains  there  were  losses. 

If  the  withdrawal  privilege  had  been  left  out  and  per- 
sons wishing  to  use  their  money  before  the  end  of  the  term 
had  been  left  to  rely  upon  selling  their  stock  to  other  in- 
vestors, this  would  have  saved  most  of  the  societies  from 
failure,  and  the  shares  would  have  been  such  a  desirable  in- 
vestment for  the  savings  of  the  people  that  those  wishing  to 
get  their  money  back  could  easily  have  sold  them  without 
breaking  down  the  capital  of  the  society,  as  was  done  by  the 
withdrawal  privilege. 


Old  Age   Pensions  and  Postal   Savings  Banks. 

In  Germany,  Ireland  and  some  other  countries,  within 
recent  years,  laws  have  gone  into  effect  providing  pensions 
for  practically  every  one  over  a  certain  age.  This  in  ef- 
fect amounts  to  insurance  carried  by  the  government,  and 
by  a  proper  study  of  the  mortality  tables  of  insurance  com- 
panies, it  is  entirely  practicable  and  far  better  than  the 
maintainence  of  the  aged  poor  "at  almshouses.  It  further  has 
the  effect  of  making  the  well-to-do  property  owners  con- 
tribute to  the  support  of  their  less  fortunate  fellow  beings, 
which  is  eminently  right  and  proper. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  207 

The  following  cablegram  from  New  South  Wales  shows 
how  it  is  managed  there,  and  it  is  food  for  thought  by  all 
persons  interested  in  the  welfare  of  their  fellow  beings: 

LEGISLATION  IS  PATERNAL. 

New  South  Wales  Takes  New  Departure  in  Parliamentary 

Program 

By  Associated  Press  Cable  to  the  Dispatch. 

Sydney,  N.  S.  W.,  June  20,  1909.— "On  the  eve  of  social- 
istic legislation  more  paternal  than  even  Australia  has  hith- 
erto known,  Premier  Carruthers  today  announced  the  plans 
for  the  next  session  of  Parliament.  The  program  embraces 
pensions  for  invalids,  subscriptions  to  friendly  societies  and 
the  establishment  of  a  system  whereby  the  poorest  persons 
may  purchase  annuities.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the  pro- 
posals will  be  accepted.  The  annuities  will  be  arranged  by 
applicants  opening  accounts  in  the  government  savings 
banks  and  their  deposits,  by  the  aid  of  government  subsidies 
will  draw  special  rates  of  interest. 

Premier  Carruthers  justifies  his  proposals  by  arguing  that 
they  "tend  to  uplift  the  community,  swell  the  ranks  of  the 
friendly  societies,  increase  the  inducement  to  thrift  and 
generally  aid  in  the  battle  against  improvidence." 

Postal  savings  banks  should  provide  for  receiving  deposits 
without  limit,  and  under  no  circumstances  should  these 
savings  be  allowed  to  be  loaned  out  of  the  county,  or  at  least 
never  out  of  the  state  from  which  they  were  received.  A 
number  of  banks  have  been  established  in  different  places 
with  this  restriction  as  to  loans,  and  it  is  a  most  wise  one 
and  the  only  way  to  keep  the  money  of  the  country  from 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  trust  gamblers  who  use  it  to 


208  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

ruin  the  very  persons  who  have  placed  it  on  deposit,  unless 
bonds  be  issued  by  the  Federal,  state  or  municipal  govern- 
ments in  small  denominations  of  say  from  $10  up,  in  order 
that  the  savings  of  the  people  may  be  invested  in  them.  In 
France  this  has  been  done  so  successfully  that  almost  the 
entire  industrial  and  farming  population  are  holders  of 
government  bonds.  The  ability,  on  the  part  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  people,  to  acquire  government  bonds  is  an  in- 
centive to  thrift  and  economy  which  are  so  much  needed  in 
this  country  and  which  should  be  encouraged  in  every  way. 
The  French  people  are  so  securely  entrenched  behind 
their  savings  that  such  a  thing  as  a  financial  panic  would 
not  cause  them  the  slightest  inconvenience,  and  even  several 
years  of  business  and  industrial  depression  would  cause 
them  no  serious  discomfort. 

How  to  Abolish  the  Evils  of  Drink  Without  Closing  saloons. 

It  is  generally  recognized  that  the  evils  of  drink  result 
almost  entirely  from  the  evil  associations  among  those  who 
drink.  These  associations  are  very  commonly  to  be  found 
in  the  saloons  where  loafers  and  idlers  congregate,  and  it  is 
probably  very  rarely  that*a  man  forms  the  habit  of  excessive 
drinking  in  his  own  home.  By  removing  all  tables  and 
chairs  from  saloons  they  would  cease  to  be  places  of  as- 
semblage for  undesirable  characters,  and  those  wishing  to 
drink  would  find  but  little  inducement  to  stand  very  long 
in  saloons  without  tables  or  chairs,  and  those  who  had 
homes  to  go  to  would  naturally  take  their  beer  or  other 
beverage  home  with  them  where  they  would  not  be  in  the 
evil  company  of  the  regular  loafers  about  the  saloons. 

By  entirely  removing  everything  in  the  way  of  screens, 
blinds,  frosted  glass  or  shades  of  any  kind  from  saloon 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  209 

windows  those  who  have  been  in  the  habit  of  drinking  to  ex- 
cess behind  the  screens  or  blinds,  would  not  have  this  means 
of  hiding  their  misconduct,  and  the  sale  of  liquor  to  minors 
and  habitual  drunkards  would  receive  a  great  check  in  this 
way. 

In  the  cities  and  towns  where  these  precautions  have  been 
taken  the  evils  of  drink  have  been  greatly  reduced,  and  in 
some  places  practically  abolished,  and  it  has  the  effect  of 
closing  the  lowest  dives  where  the  greatest  evils  were  toler- 
ated, and  this  is  very  beneficial. 

In  some  European  countries,  at  the  places  where  wine, 
beer  and  other  mild  beverages  are  sold,  the  sale  of  the 
stronger  drinks,  such  as  brandy,  gin,  whiskey,  etc.,  is  not 
permitted  at  all,  and  those  who  wish  to  deal  in  these  liquors 
are  required  to  take  out  a  special  license  under  special  re- 
strictions, consequently,  as  the  lighter  beverages  only  are 
sold  by  the  regular  retailers  of  distilled  and  fermented  bev- 
erages, there  is  but  little  incentive  to  intoxication  and,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  is  almost  unknown.  Moreover,  the  habit 
of  treating  is  not  permitted  and  anyone  who  should  offer 
to  pay  for  another's  drink  would  be  deemed  guilty  of  a 
personal  insult  which  would  be  as  promptly  resented  as  if 
the  guilty  party  had  accused  the  other  of  being  a  pauper, 
unable  to  pay  for  his  own  drink. 

These  two  important  differences  in  the  customs  and  laws 
of  European  countries,  as  compared  with  ours,  are  largely 
the  cause  of  the  absence  of  drunkenness  there  and  the  writ- 
er, during  a  visit  of  nearly  two  years  to  countries  of  conti- 
nental Europe,  saw  but  two  persons  under  the  influence  of 
liquor  and  both  were  under  arrest  at  the  time. 


210  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

How  to  Abolish  Jails,  Workhouses  and  Poor  Farms. 

A  number  of  years  ago  a  man  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  had 
the  contract  to  remove  the  garbage  and  street  sweepings. 
Before  his  time  they  had  been  destroyed  in  some  way  or 
dumped  onto  vacant  lots  somewhere  where  they  were  more 
or  less  of  a  nuisance  and  did  no  good.  But  this  man  wras 
too  good  a  business  man  to  be  a^  party  to  such  a  waste  and 
he  knew  that  both  the  street  sweepings  and  the  garbage 
were  of  much  value  as  fertilizers,  so,  instead  of  wasting 
them,  he  got  possession  of  an  island  in  the  Mississippi  which 
was  nothing  more  than  a  sand  bar  which  was  considered 
perfectly  worthless.  On  this  sandbar  he  dumped  the  gar- 
bage and  street  sweepings,  and  the  result  was  that  before 
long  it  was  one  of  the  most  fertile  pieces  of  land  in  that 
part  of  the  country  and  he  was  fast  accumulating  a  fortune 
from  the  returns  of  the  land  cultivated  as  a  garden. 
.  There  is  little  room  for  doubt  that  in  our  American  cities 
the  value  of  the  street  sweepings  and  garbage  which  is 
annually  destroyed  by  cremation  or  other  methods  which 
have 'been  devised  to  get  rid  of  it,  if  applied  to -land  would 
be  sufficient  to  support  practically  all  the  poor  of  the  cities. 

By  establishing  industrial  farms  as  near  the  cities  as  they 
can  be  had,  as  is  done  in  Holland,  where  those  out  of  work 
could  always  find  employment,  at  farming  and  gardening 
during  the  open  season  and  at  various  handicrafts  during 
the  winter,  they  could  not  only  be  made  self  supporting, 
but  would  produce  a  very  substantial  revenue  over  and 
above  the  cost  of  their  maintainence  and  at  the  same  time 
the  inmates  of  these  establishments  could  be  acquiring  a 
practical  knoweldge  of  farming  and  gardening  under  com- 
petent instructors,  who  would  act  as  overseers,  so  that  after 
a  few  years  of  this  life  they  would  be  qualified  to  take  care 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE   GREAT    REPUBLIC  211 

of  themselves  if  they  had  a  piece  of  land  to  work.  Land, 
with  all  the  necessary  improvements  could  be  provided  for 
them  without  expense  to  the  city,  by  allowing  them  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  credit  for  the  work  while  on  the  industrial 
farm  and  which  could  be  expended  to  provide  homes  for 
those  who  had  remained  faithful  during  a  five  or  six  year 
course  of  instruction. 

As  a  number  of  those  who  went  into  this  would  drop  out 
before  the  end  of  the  regular  term  of  instructions,  this 
would  bring  what  are  known  to  insurance  men  as  "lapses," 
as  these  persons  who  had  remained  during  a  part  only  of  the 
regular  course  of  instructions  would  receive  no  credit  on 
the  books  of  the  establishment  and  all  that  they  had  earned 
over  and  above  the  cost  of  their  keep  would  go  into  the 
general  fund  of  the  institution  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
should  remain  through  the  entire  course  and  as  there  would 
be  many  who  would  enter  the  establishment  for  short  peri- 
ods of  time  only,  to  tide  them  over  a  season  of  hard  times, 
or  to  keep  them  going  until  they  secured  another  job,  these 
lapses  would  undoubtedly  amount  to  a  large  amount  each 
year. 

Much  hand  work  could  be  done  of  a  kind  that  is  usually 
done  by  machinery,  but  which  would  pay  considerably  more 
than  the  cost  of  the  keep  of  the  inmates  of  the  farm,  and  this 
would  be  of  greater  value  as  instruction  than  work  done  by 
machinery,  the  two  main  objects  in  view  being  to  keep  the 
occupants  always  occupied  and  to  provide  those  who  remain 
through  the  full  course  of  instructions  with  homes  of  their 
own  without  the  necessity  of  their  having  any  cash  to  be- 
gin with. 

Those  who  now  languish  for  short-term  sentences  in  work- 
houses and  county  jails  without  learning  anything  to  their 
advantage  and  without  producing  anything  of  value  to 


212  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

themselves  or  the  community,  and  who,  each  time  they  com- 
plete such  a  sentence,  come  away  lower  in  the  social  scale 
than  they  were  before,  should  be  sent  to  similar  farms, 
but  quite  separate  and  apart  from  the  industrial  farms, 
where  they  could  work  out  short  term  sentences  amid  sur- 
roundings distinctly  elevating  and  which  tend  to  impress 
upon  them  the  possibilities  of  becoming  self  supporting  and 
self  respecting  citizens  once  more,  and  where  they  feel  that 
they  are  producing  something  of  value  to  themselves  and  the 
community,  instead  of  wearing  away  the  time  amid  sur- 
roundings which  are  distinctly  degrading  and  have  a  direct 
tendency  to  destroy  what  little  of  manhood  and  self  respect 
may  be  left  to  these  unfortunates. 

The  occupants  of  these  penal  farms  should  always  have 
held  out  to  them  as  a  reward  for  good  conduct,  the  prospect 
of  being  transferred  to  the  industrial  farm  at  the  end  of 
their  penal  sentence,  with  its  bright  promise  of  restoring 
them  once  more  to  the  ranks  of  self-supporting  citizens,  with 
the  certainty  of  being  provided  with  homes  of  their  own,  in 
payment  for  the  time  spent  on  the  industrial  farm  while 
gaining  the  necessary  knowledge  and  experience  in  intens- 
ive farming,  gardening,  dairying,  etc.,  which  is  necessary 
to  enable  them  to  make  a  success  of  farming  or  gardening 
when  provided  with  a  home  of  their  own. 

The  opportunities  for  successfully  carrying  on  this  work 
are  unsurpassed  anywhere,  and  rarely  equal  to  what  they 
are  in  the  United  States,  and  such  establishments  as  this, 
under  conscientious  and  competent  management  entirely  re- 
moved from  the  visissitudes  of  politics  and  supplemented 
by  thorough  irrigation  and  drainage  of  these  industrial 
farms  with  the  application  of  the  enormous  quantities  of 
most  valuable  fertilizers  collected  from  the  street  sweepings 
and  garbage  of  the  cities  by  which  they  are  conducted, 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  213 

would  make  them  the  most  productive  and  the  most  profit- 
able farms  and  gardens  to  be  found  anywhere,  and  they 
would  become  valuable  object  lessons-  to  all  who  knew  of 
them. 

These  industrial  farms  could  engage  in  many  branches  of 
farming,  gardening  and  home  industries,  such  as  supplying 
milk,  butter,  cream,  cheese,  poultry,  eggs,  vegetables,  jel- 
lies, preserves,  many  fabrics  both  hand  and  machine  made, 
and  there  is  no  reason  why  they  should  not  each  and  every 
one  become  as  celebrated  for  the  high  reputation  of  all 
their  products  as  the  Oneida  Community  in  New  York  state 
once  was  before  it  was  suppressed  on  account  of  the  im- 
morality of  its  free  love  practices. 

The  work  of  the  occupants  could  be  supplemented  by 
power  costing  absolutely  nothing,  by  the  use  of  windmills, 
and  by  using  live  stock  in  short  shifts  in  the  latest  improved 
treadmills  to  replace  the  wind  power  when  it  failed. 

As  all  the  unemployed  and  the  shiftless  ones  who  grad- 
ually drift  into  the  great  army  of  tramps  and  idlers  must 
be  supported,  how  much  better  it  would  be  to  provide 
means  by  which  they  would,  every  mother's  son  and  daugh- 
ter of  them,  in  the  entire  country,  not  only  be  self-support- 
ing, but  most  of  them  redeemed  as  respectable  citizens  and 
provided  with  permanent  homes  of  their  own,  where  they 
would  be  independent  ever  afterwards. 

This  system,  intelligently  carried  out,  would  entirely 
eliminate  the  whole  race  of  idlers,  tramps  and  petty  offend- 
ers as  it  has  done  in  Holland,  Bavaria  and  other  countries 
of  Europe,  in  spite  of  their  crowded  condition  and  the  many 
difficulties  under  which  they  labor,  difficulties  which  do  not 
exist  at  all  in  the  United  States. 

To  punish  a  man  for  his  misfortunes  is  certainly  not  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  teachings  of  Christian  civilization,  yet 


214  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

too  often  it  happens  that  men  who  are  temporarily  out  of 
work,  by  no  fault  of  their  own,  are  subjected  to  the  humili- 
ation, disgrace  and  punishment  which  should  never  be  im- 
posed upon  any  one  who  is  not  guilty  of  some  offense.  The 
following  account  taken  from  the  St.  Paul  Dispatch  of  Feb. 
1st,  1910,  is  an  example  of  the  treatment  to  which  the  un- 
fortunates are  sometimes  subjected,  and  it  is  high  time  that 
such  outrages  should  be  put  a  stop  to  if  we  are  to  retain  our 
reputation  as  a  civilized  nation. 

FAINTED  WHILE  ASKING  WORK. 

A  Hungry  Man  to  Find  Food  ajid  Lodging  at  the  Work- 
house. 

"William  Sorenson  will  have  enough  to  eat  for  the  next 
thirty  days,  in  spite  of  the  high  cost  of  living. 

Sorenson  came  to  St.  Paul  a  few  days  ago  from  Philadel- 
phia and  started  out  to  hunt  for  work. 

While  making  an  application  for  work  yesterday  after- 
noon to  James  J.  Regan,  street  commissioner,  in  his  office 
in  the  basement  of  the  court  house,  Sorenson  suddenly  keel- 
ed over,  carrying  with  him  one  of  the  office  chairs.  The 
police  ambulance  was  summoned  and,  upon  examination,  it 
was  found  that  Sorenson  had  fainted  from  hunger  and  that 
he  was  actually  in  a  starving  condition. 

Charged  in  the  municipal  court  this  morning  with  va- 
grancy before  Judge  Finehout,  Sorenson  admitted  that  he 
had  no  money,  no  work  and  no  permanent  place  of  abode. 
Judge  Finehout  sent  him  to  the  workhouse  where  the  two 
latter  requisites  will  be  supplied  to  him  for  the  next  thirty 
days." 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  215 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE  ARMY  AND  NAVY. 

An  Army  of  the  Full  Strength  of  the  Nation  at  a  Cost  of  a 
Few  Regiments  Only. 

We  hear  a  good  deal  of  the  necessity  of  increasing  the 
strength  of  our  coast  and  boundary  defences,  and  surely 
every  patriotic  citizen  would  like  to  see  every  reasonable 
precaution  taken  against  the  danger  of  foreign  aggression, 
and  that  danger  will  surely  grow  as  our  national  wealth  and 
prosperity  increase,  yet  it  is  unfortunate  that  those  who 
must  ultimately  pass  upon  all  such  matters  are  not  experts 
in  that  line.  Under  our  system  the  Secretary  of  War  is 
almost  invariably,  if  not  always,  a  civilian,  who,  it  must  be 
assumed  has  no  technical  knowledge  in  such  matters,  in- 
stead of  being  always  one  of  the  most  experienced  and  able 
of  our  military  men.  This  makes  it  necessary  for  him  to  de- 
pend entirely  upon  others  for  the  requisite  knowledge  for 
each  step  in  his  official  carreer.  Moreover  the  congress 
must  act  through  committees  also  composed  of  civilians, 
who,  in  turn,  have  to  depend  upon  others  for  all  that  they 
must  know  in  their  recommendations  to  the  Congress. 

In  the  matter  of  coast  defences  it  is  possible  that  the  prin- 
ciple laid  down  by  De  Jominy,  the  adjutant  general  of  the 
Great  Napoleon,  and  probably  one  of  the  highest  authori- 
ties on  strategy  who  ever  penned  a  line  on  that  subject,  may 
be  followed. 


216  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

He  says  that  the  attempt  to  defend  an  entire  frontier  must 
result  in  leaving  every  part  of  it  open  to  invasion  by  an 
enemy.  The  reason  of  this  is  plain :  To  extend  a  line  too  far 
makes  it  too  weak  everywhere  to  resist  an  enemy  whose 
forces  are  sufficiently  concentrated  to  seriously  outnumber 
the  defending  force  where  the  actual  clash  takes  place. 
This  was  the  great  secret  of  Napoleon's  success.  With  the 
single  exception  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  at  which  he  was 
finally  routed,  he  invariably  so  managed  his  forces  as  to 
outnumber  the  enemy  wherever  he  attacked,  even  when  the 
enemy  as  a  whole  greatly  outnumbered  him. 

The  only  legitimate  purpose  of  coast  and  other  frontier  de- 
fenses is  to  enable  a  defending  force  to  check  the  advance 
of  an  enemy  until  sufficient  reinforcementes  can  be  brought 
up  to  successfully  cope  with  the  invading  forces.  What 
is  most  wanted  is  to  have  the  nation  so  organized  as  to  have 
its  whole  strength  available  upon  short  notice  with  the 
greatest  facility  for  mobility  with  sufficient  rapidity  to  con- 
centrate an  efficient  defending  force  wherever  it  may  be  re- 
quired in  time  to  prevent  serious  danger  of  invasion. 

This  may  be  done  without  the  expense  of  a  great  stand- 
ing army  such  as  European  nations  maintain,  by  requiring 
instruction  in  the  elementary  features  of  drill  and  field 
work  in  all  the  schools,  with  regular  target  practice  at  fixed 
times,  where  every  encouragement  is  given  for  the  attain- 
ment of  efficiency  in  marksmanship  and  sharp-shooting. 

Then  every  male  citizen  between  the  ages  of  17  and  70 
should  be  enrolled  in  reserves  so  that  they  may  be  called 
upon  successively  in  time  of  need. 

The  regular  National  Guard,  which  might  be  designated 
as  "Minute  Men"  subject  to  immediate  call  whenever  re- 
quired for  the  national  defense  or  to  preserve  order  in  time 
of  serious  internal  disturbances,  should  consist  of  not  less 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  217 

than  1,200,000  men  from  17  upwards  as  high  in  age  as  may 
be  required  to  make  up  this  number  of  available  men  fit 
for  service  exclusive  of  those  who  are  capable  for  clerical 
or  office  work  only. 

By  organizing  this  army  of  "Minute  Men,"  which  would 
in  fact  be  the  first  reserve,  into  subdivisions  of  50,000  each, 
each  subdivision  or  relief  to  be  under  arms  for  two  weeks 
each  year  for  field  maneuvers  during  which  camp  would  be 
moved  at  least  ten  miles  every  day,  to  break  up  the  non- 
sense of  an  excess  of  baggage  such  as  accumulates  in  the 
encampments  of  the  National  Guard  under  present  condi- 
tions, and  which  about  nullifies  the  benefits  which  guards- 
men are  supposed  'to  derive  from  their  annual  encamp- 
ments, and  by  providing  for  weekly  drills  and  schools 
for  officers  and  non-coms.,  with  a  half  a  day  each  month 
given  to  target  practice  and  field  evolutions,  a  force  would 
soon  be  available  which  would  include  the  entire  strength 
of  the  nation,  yet  which  would  involve  the  expense  of  not  to 
exceed  50,000  men  at  a  time,  or  at  least  on  an  average,  dur- 
ing the  year. 

As  the  "Minute  Men"  reached  the  age  limit  beyond 
which  they  would  not  serve  in  the  first  reserve,  as  they 
would  be  replaced  by  younger  men  in  sufficient  numbers  to 
keep  up  the  full  quota  of  1,200,000  men,  they  would  pass  in- 
to a  second  reserve,  in  which  they  would  be  required  to  ap- 
pear under  arms  but  once  a  month,  to  enable  the  officers  to 
keep  up  the  rosters  and  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  reserves. 

Most  armies  are  modeled  more  or  less  upon  the  plan 
adopted  by  King  David  and  the  plan  here  suggested  contains 
the  best  features  of  his  system  while  providing  for  a  force 
ten  times  as  large  as  his. 

In  times  of  peace  our  regular  army  should  consist  mainly 
of  a  "cadavre"  or  skeleton  composed  of  a  great  excess  of 


218  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

officers,  but  in  time  of  war  it  should  be  much  less  top  heavy 
than  it  has  been  in  the  past,  and  should  follow  more  the 
methods  of  European  armies  and  instead  of  having  a  full 
company  consist  of  60  to  100  men  it  should  consist  of  not 
less  than  270  officers  and  men;  a  battallion  of  4  companies 
should  comprise  about  1,100  officers  and  men,  a  regiment 
of  three  battalions,  of  about  3,350  officers  and  men,  a  bri- 
gade of  any  arm  of  the  service,  of  three  regiments,  or  some- 
thing over  10,000  officers  and  men,  a  division  of  a  single  arm 
of  the  service  of  rather  more  than  30,000  officers  and  men; 
a  corps  of  a  little  more  than  90,000  officers  and  men  and 
an  army  of  about  300.000.  This  would  provide  for  four 
armies  covering  the  first  reserve,  which,  properly  handled, 
would  be  a  formidable  force  to  oppose  to  an  invading  army 
which  always  labors  at  a  disadvantage  when  in  the  country 
of  a  hostile  and  patriotic  people. 

In  time  of  peace,  the  "cadavre"  or  skeleton,  composed 
of  a  great  surplus  of  officers,  would  keep  up  with  all  the 
higher  branches  of  the  service,  such  as  strategy,  engineer- 
ing, ordinance  and  ballistics,  logistics  and  the  signal  serv- 
ice ;  and  in  time  of  war,  the  more  efficient  line  officers  could 
serve  as  field  and  staff  officers,  the  subalterns  as  line  offi- 
cers, and  the  most  efficient  of  the  non-commissioned  as 
subalterns  as  vacancies  occurred,  or  as  opportunities  for 
advancement  were  open,  although  with  a  properly  organized 
"cadavre"  or  skeleton  there  should  be  sufficient  officers  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  full  complement  of  men,  when 
necessary  to  place  the  national  forces  upon  a  war  footing. 

This  organization,  which  is  in  substance  about  what  is 
now  employed  in  European  military  establishments,  would 
require  a  higher  standard  of  training  and  instruction  on  the 
part  of  the  line  officers  and  non-commissioned  officers  whose 
duties  would  be  very  much  what  are  now  performed  by  field 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE   GREAT    REPUBLIC  219 

officers  and  line  officers,  by  reason  of  the  larger  numbers  in 
each  subdivision  of  a  command. 

Although  now  somewhat  old,  a  very  instructive  work  on 
the  comparative  organizations  of  Europe  and  Asia  is  the 
report  of  Major  General  Upton,  who  was  sent  to  inspect 
those  armies  and  to  report  to  our  government  upon  them. 

The  efficiency  of  an  armed  force  depends  mainly  upon  its 
organization,  discipline,  logistics  and  strategy.  If  anyone  of 
these  is  deficient  it  cannot  hope  to  be  successful. 

Many  military  commanders,  otherwise  thoroughly  com- 
petent, have  utterly  failed  because  they  were  deficient  as 
strategists,  and  some  of  the  finest  armies  have  been  de- 
stroyed on  this  account.  Possibly  the  greatest  stategists  who 
ever  lived  were  Frederick  the  Great,  the  first  Napoleon  and 
Stonewall  Jackson. 

Other  things  being  equal,  superior  marksmanship  may  well 
make  the  difference  between  success  and  failure  of  con- 
tending forces,  and  in  this  respect  the  American  army  is 
undoubtedly  the  finest  in  the  world,  but  it  will  not  con- 
tinue to  be  so  unless  proper  means  are  employed  to  keep 
up  this  efficiency,  not  only  in  the  regular  army,  but  in  those 
who,  in  time  of  need,  must  make  up  the  full  quota  required 
for  effective  work. 

An  Efficient  Navy  at  Minimum  Cost. 

Great  sums  have  been  expended  in  war  vessels  costing 
enormous  sums  per  vessel,  not  only  in  the  navies  of  Europe 
but  in  the  United  States,  and  the  writer  does  not  hesitate 
to  express  the  belief  that  a  great  error  has  been  made  in 
placing  so  high  a  value  upon  calibre  and  range  of  guns,  size 
of  vessels  and  weight  of  armor. 


220  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

In  naval  engagements  the  main  feature  is  speed,  and  no 
weight  of  metal  discharged,  size  of  vessels  nor  thickness  of 
armor  can  ever  make  up  for  deficiency  in  this  respect. 

With  sailing  vessels  the  one  that  had  the  "wind"  was 
in  a  controlling  position,  for  when  to  windward,  it  could 
select  its  own  time  and  point  for  attack,  for  having  the 
"wind"  or  being  to  windward,  it  could  always  move  with 
greater  celerity  than  the  vessel  that  was  "beating  up," 
and  superiority  in  seamanship,  enabling  the  commanding 
officer  to  get  the  "wind"  decided  many  a  naval  engagement. 

What  the  wind  was  to  sailing  vessels,  speed  now  is  to 
vessels  propelled  by  artificial  motive  force,  and  the  vessel 
with  a  substantially  higher  rate  of  speed  than  the  oppos- 
ing one,  has  all  the  advantages,  previously  possessed  by  the 
one  having  the  wind;  but  it  is  far  more  independent  than 
the  former,  as  it  is  not  confined  to  any  particular  direc- 
tion in  its  movements,  but  can  move  with  comparative, 
celerity  in  any  direction,  its  superiority  in  speed,  over  its 
adversary,  being  maintained  regardless  of  the  direction  of 
the  wind. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  among  naval  men  as  to 
the  relative  advantages  of  large  and  small  vessels,  and  the 
writer  ventures  to  state  the  advantages  of  small  vessels,  of 
the  highest  attainable  speed  over  much  larger  vessels  of  a 
lower  rate  of  speed. 

First.  The  smaller  and  swifter  vessel,  can  select  its  .time, 
place  and  direction  of  attack. 

Second.  If  enough  smaller  than  its  adversary  to  be  also 
of  much  lighter  draft,  it  has  a  vastly  wider  range  of  oper- 
ations than  the  larger  one,  as  it  may  run  over  shoals,  pass 
through  shallow  waters  behind  sheltering  islands,  and  make 
short  cuts,  which,  in  addition  to  its  higher  rate  of  speed, 
will,  in  innumerable  cases  render  the  larger  and  slower 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  221 

vessel  entirely  incapable  of  either  attack  or  retreat,  except- 
ing at  the  option  of  the  smaller  and  swifter  one. 

Third.  Much  smaller  and  swifter  vessels  than  men-of- 
war,  cruisers  or  even  gunboats  and  torpedo  boats,  can  be 
built  in  great  numbers  at  an  equal,  or  even  much  less  cost 
than  one  vessel  of  the  man-of-war  or  cruiser  class. 

Fourth.  A  large  vessel,  of  a  comparatively  slow  rate  of 
speed,  when  attacked  by  a  number  of  small  ones  of  a  higher 
rate  of  speed,  is  to  a  great  extent  helpless,  for  the  larger 
vessel  provides  a  much  larger  target  for  the  missiles  of  the 
attacking  vessels,  and  as  they  may  attack  in  all  directions 
at  the  same  time,  and  afford  but  a  very  small  target  for 
the  missiles  of  the  larger  vessel,  the  chances  are  decidedly 
in  favor  of  the  success  of  a  number  of  very  small  vessels, 
of  great  speed,  as  compared  with  the  single  large  one  of  a 
much  lower  rate  of  speed. 

Fifth.  The  small  vessels  may  be  so  constructed  as  to  be 
partly,  or  wholly  submerged,  when  approaching  for  an  at- 
tack, rendering  them  comparatively  safe  from  the  missiles 
of  the  larger  vessel,  and  exposing  them  directly  for  an  in- 
stant only  when  delivering  their  own  fire. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  a  score  or  more  of  these  smaller 
vessels  can  be  built  for  what  it  costs  to  construct  one  of 
the  larger  ones,  and  that  in  case  of  the  destruction  of  one 
of  the  smaller  ones,  the  loss  both  in  human  life  and  in 
cash  value  to  the  nation,  will  be  very  much  smaller  than 
in  the  case  of  the  loss  of  a  large  and  very  expensive  one, 
manned  by  more  men  than  are  required  to  handle  a  score 
or  more  of  the  small  ones,  and  in  view  of  the  other  ad- 
vantages previously  stated,  the  writer  believes  that  the  his- 
tory of  naval  warfare  shows  that  the  smaller  vessels  are 
far  more  effective,  as  well  as  much  less  costly,  both  in 
human  life  and  treasure. 


222  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

A  transport,  capable  of  carrying  a  dozen  or  more  of  these 
small  vessels,  could  be  provided  at  an  expense  amounting 
to  a  percentage  only  of  the  cost  of  a  man-of-war  or  a 
cruiser,  and  in  this  way  these  small  vessels  could  be  trans- 
ported to  distant  points,  when  not  actually  under  fire,  at  a 
minimum  cost. 

There  has  been  no  demonstration  in  actual  combat,  of 
any  superiority  in  very  large  vessels  of  the  man-of-war  or 
cruiser  type  over  smaller  and  much  more  rapid  ones ;  on 
the  contrary,  in  our  late  unhappy  war  with  Spain,  the  su- 
periority of  speed  over  all  other  considerations  was  dem- 
onstrated as  far  as  anything  could  be  under  the  circum- 
stances. 

To  those  interested  in  naval  matters,  one  of  the  highest 
authorities,  not  of  the  latest  date,  is  "Mahan's  Influence  of 
Sea  Power  Upon  History." 

In  view  of  the  rapid  development  of  new  conditions,  and 
the  evolution  of  flying  machines,  which,  when  brought  into 
general  use,  will  upset  all  calculations  now  relied  upon  for 
armies  and  navies,  it  seems  a  great  mistake  to  continue  to 
expend  vast  amounts  of  public  money  in  building  men-of- 
war  and  cruisers,  which  are  likely  to  be  completely  out- 
classed by  much  smallers  vessels  as  effective  fighting  ma- 
chines. 

Why  it  Is  Hard  to  Recruit  the  Navy. 

That  it  is  difficult  to  find  recruits  for  the  navy  is  appar- 
ent from  the  necessity  for  advertising  for  them  in  just  the 
same  way  that  a  circus  is  advertised,  and  there  seems 
scarcely  room  for  doubt  that  one  of  the  causes  of  this  is 
the  great  gulf  that  is  maintained  between  officers  and  men 
in  the  navy.  The  men  are  required  to  be  content  with  a 
minimum  of  comforts  as  far  as  quarters  are  concerned,  and 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  223 

with  no  luxuries  in  that  respect,  while  the  officers  live,  at 
the  expense  of  the  people,  in  a  most  extravagant  manner. 

While  discipline  and  subordination  are  absolutely  essen- 
tial to  efficiency  in  the  navy  as  well  as  in  the  army,  and  in 
every  other  important  business  involving  great  interests, 
the  expenditure  of  tens  of  thousands  of  dollars  for  a  silver 
service  for  use  in  the  officers'  cabin,  does  not  appear  to  be 
especially  conducive  to  efficiency,  nor  is  it  well  calculated 
to  engender  contentment  among  the  men;  for  such  com- 
parisons are,  at  best,  hard  to  bear,  and  when  we  consider 
that  many  of  the  men  are  just  as  good  socially  as  the  offi- 
cers, it  seems  quite  apparent  to  an  unbiased  mind  that  a 
little  more  simplicity  would  be  conducive  to  greater  con- 
tentment among  the  men,  and  would  directly  tend  to  en- 
courage enlistments  in  the  navy. 

Undoubtedly  the  trip  around  the  world  of  our  battleships 
was  a  demonstration  that  our  navy  is  better  disciplined 
and  more  patriotic  than  that  of  any  other  nation,  but  this 
only  emphasizes  the  importance  of  doing  everything  pos- 
sible to  keep  it  up  to  its  high  standard,  and  to  encourage 
the  enlistment  of  the  best  and  brightest  of  our  young  men  as 
recruits. 

Airships  As  Engines  of  War. 

When  Hanibal,  the  Carthegenian  general  had  beaten  every 
Roman  force  sent  against  him,  and  was  threatening  the  city 
of  Rome  itself,  and  there  seemed  no  way  to  save  it,  Scipio, 
a  young  man  but  22  years  of  age,  offered  his  services  as 
commander-in-chief  of  the  Roman  forces,  stating  that  he 
would  save  Rome  if  given  command.  As  no  one  else  wanted 
the  "job,"  it  was  .given  to  him,  with  the  expectation  that  he 
would  fail  as  all  his  predecessors  had  done,  but  he  surprised 
them.  After  raising  as  strong  an  army  as  possible,  he  ap- 


224  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

parently  left  the  city  of  Rome  to  its  fate,  for  he  not  only 
marched  his  army  away,  but  even  left  Italy.  But  he  went 
direct  to  Phoenicia,  and  threatened  Carthage,  its  capital. 
As  soon  as  Hanibal  learned  what  had  been  done,  he  hastily 
abandoned  the  idea  of  advancing  to  take  Rome,  which  he 
could  probably  have  done  with  little  difficulty,  and  re- 
turned to  Africa  to  defend  his  own  capital,  and  so  Rome  was 
saved  by  "carrying  the  war  into  Africa"  and  ever  since 
this  policy  of  assuming,  what  in  military  parlance  is  tech- 
nically called  "the  offensive  defensive,"  that  is,  taking  the 
offensive  for  defensive  purposes,  has  been  commonly  called 
"carrying  the  war  into  Africa." 

For  long  periods,  while  England  and  Scotland  were  en- 
gaged in  frequent  wars,  the  Scotch  very  successfully  pur- 
sued this  policy,  and  when  a  British  force  invaded  Scotland, 
the  Scottish  army  avoided  a  conflict,  and  kept  out  of  the 
way,  removing  all  supplies,  as  far  as  possible,  out  of  reach 
of  the  invaders.  Then,  when  they  had  led  the  English  a 
good  distance  into  the  interior  of  Scotland,  they  rapidly 
passed  them,  entered  England  unopposed,  and  in  a  few  days 
did  more  damage  to  the  enemy  than  had  been  done  in  Scot- 
land in  weeks,  so  that  the  net  result  of  these  tactics  was  a 
much  greater  loss  to  the  English  than  to  the  Scotch. 

Now  with  airships  as  implements  of  war,  what  effect 
would  they  have  on  military  operations?  Upon  strategy, 
which  is  the  art  of  planning  campaigns,  it  would  have  no 
direct  effect,  for  the  principles  of  strategy  are  practically 
eternal  in  character,  depending  mainly  upon  certain  math- 
ematical calculations  which  are  as  unchanging  as  the  prin- 
ciples of  geometry.  On  grand  tactics,  the  art  of  maneuver- 
ing troops  to  put  the  strategic  plans  into  operation;  that 
is.  handling  the  troops  before  they  come  into  actual  conflict 
with  an  opposing  force,  airships  would  have  a  very  ma- 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  225 

terial  effect.  In  grand  tactics,  one  of  the  most  important 
things  to  be  desired  is  to  keep  the  enemy,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, ignorant  of  the  numbers  and  location  of  the  troops 
engaged  in  a  campaign  up  to  the  very  moment  of  coming 
into  actual  conflict  with  the  enemy.  With  flying  machines 
hovering  overhead,  many  well  developed  plans  for  keeping 
secret  the  location  and  movements  of  troops  would  be  ut- 
terly defeated,  and  it  would  never  be  safe  to  engage  in  any 
conflict  with  the  idea  that  the  enemy  did  not  know  the  pre- 
cise location  and  strength  of  each  body  of  troops  about  to 
become  engaged. 

Upon  tactics  of  detail,  that  is  the  handling  of  troops 
while  under  fire,  flying  machines  would  not  be  likely  to  have 
any  marked  effect,  excepting  in  so  far  as  they  might  take 
part  in  the  conflict  by  dropping  explosives  upon  the  troops 
engaged,  but  this  would  not  be  likely  to  be  more  destructive 
than  the  fire  of  field  artillery,  and  could  be  largely  counter- 
acted by  other  flying  machines  opposed  to  them,  which 
could  either  destroy  them,  or  do  equal  damage  to  the  troops 
of  the  enemy.  Therefore  in  actual  military  operations  it  is 
unlikely  that  flying  machines  will  materially  change  the  rel- 
ative strength  of  contending  forces,  or  greatly  affect  actual 
warfare. 

A  flying  machine  might  do  incalculable  damage  by  drop- 
ping explosives  upon  cities,  towns  and  vessels  of  an  enemy, 
but  as  retaliation  in  the  same  line  would  always  be  possible 
on  the  part  of  any  nation  likely  to  engage  in  war  with  an- 
other, this  danger  is  not  near  as  formidable  as  it  may  at 
first  appear.  For  while  it  is  true  that  all  the  armies  and 
navies  could  not  impede  the  flight  of  a  single  airship  at  a 
great  height,  especially  when  operating  at  night,  without 
lights,  this  is  true  of  the  flying  machines  of  both  contending 
parties. 


226  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

Therefore  by  "carrying  the  war  into  Africa"  the  damage 
done  by  a  flying  machine  might  be  very  quickly  stopped, 
and  it  would  be  like  the  small  boy's,  "Jimmy,  I  won't  hit 
you  if  you  won't  hit  me." 

In  naval  operations  submarine  vessels  would  be  almost 
entirely  neutralized  by  airships,  at  least  during  the  daytime, 
for  the  reason  that  an  airship,  high  in  the  air,  could  see 
every  movement  of  a  submarine  vessel,  although  it  were 
entirely  invisible  to  those  on  the  vessel  about  to  be  attacked 
by  the  submarine,  for  it  is  well  known  to  those  having  any 
knowledge  of  ballooning,  that  the  depth  to  which  one  can 
see  under  water  increases  with  the  height  of  the  observer. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  227 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Possibilities  of  An  Empire  in  the  United  States. 
Written  in  1901. 

As  many  thoughtful  persons  believe  that  we  are  rapidly 
drifting  into  an  imperial  form  of  government,  it  is  an  in- 
teresting study  to  consider  what  of  good  might  be  accom- 
plished in  case  such  a  change  should  take  place. 

Instead  of  a  president  we  would  have  an  emperor,  whose 
powers,  for  all  practical  purposes,  would  be  limited  only  by 
motives  of  policy  and  whatever  sense  of  right  and  justice  he 
might  have;  and,  under  such  conditions,  it  would  be  safe 
to  assume  that  the  emperor  would  act  very  largely  with  a 
view  to  his  own  interests  and  those  of  his  particular  friends 
and  supporters;  in  other  words,  that  his  conduct  would  be 
prompted,  to  a  great  extent,  by  selfishness. 

We  may  also  presume  that  he  would  be  a  man  of  at  least 
average  intelligence  and  business  shrewdness. 

By  a  natural  process  governors  of  states  would  be  replaced 
by  dukes,  under  whom  would  be  marquises  governing  sub- 
divisions of  states;  counts  ruling  over  counties;  with  barons 
over  townships,  and  knights  over  villages  and  subdivi- 
sions of  townships ;  each,  within  his  sphere,  having  both  civil 
and  military  jurisdiction  as  governors  now  have. 

The  first  thing  to  suggest  itself  to  the  emperor  and  his 
subordinates  would  be  to  increase  their  revenues,  and  at 
the  same  time  conciliate  the  great  mass  of  the  people. 

The  former  object  could  easily  be  accomplished  by  the 
assumption,  on  the  part  of  the  imperial  and  local  govern- 


228  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

ments,  of  all  transportation  facilities,  telegraph  and  tele- 
phone lines,  water  and  lighting  facilities  for  cities,  and  by 
making  all  grain  mills,  public  warehouses  and  elevators,  all 
mines  of  every  description,  the  banking  business  and  the 
liquor  business,  government  monopolies.  Municipal  owner- 
ship has  been  so  great  a  success  in  Glasgow;  that  London 
is  now  likely  to  take  it  up,  and  it  is  rapidly  growing  in  favor 
in  this  country. 

Government  savings  banks  are  a  great  success  in  several 
countries  of  Europe,  and  there  is  a  constantly  increasing  de- 
mand for  them  in  this  country. 

If  the  entire  banking  system  were  owned  by  the  govern- 
ment, bank  failures  would  be  impossible;  the  savings  of  the 
people  would  be  absolutely  safe;  and,  as  all  the  money  in 
the  country  would  practically  be  always  in  the  banks,  it 
would  be  available  for  use  by  the  government,  and  treasury 
notes  could  be  issued,  equal  in  quantity  to  the  entire  amount 
of  gold  and  silver  in  the  country,  redeemable  in  gold  or 
silver. 

The  railroads  would  be  run  by  enlisted  civil  services  em- 
ployees at  fixed  rates  of  pay;  their  employment  would  be 
certain,  subject  to  removal  for  cause  only,  and  this  would 
put  an  end  to  all  occasion  for  strikes  or  contention  between 
employers  and  employees.  The  same  would  be  true  of  the 
mining  industries  of  the  country;  and  the  prices  of  fuel, 
iron,  etc.,  would  not  be  subject  to  the  sudden  changes  now 
effected  by  thieving  manipulators. 

The  monopoly  of  all  distilled  and  malt  liquors  by  the  gov- 
ernment, which  has  been  so  beneficial  in  Sweden  and  some 
of  the  German  states,  besides  being  a  source  of  enormous 
revenue  to  the  governments,  both  imperial  and  local,  would, 
to  a  great  extent,  end  the  many  abuses  now  connected  with 
the  liquor  business. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  229 

As  the  imperial  and  local  governments  would  possess  the 
power  to  do  this,  it  could  be  accomplished  without  serious 
clashes  with  the  present  owners,  by  purchase,  at  fair  ap- 
praised valuations,  of  all  their  plants,  and  b*y  the  retention,, 
at  liberal  pay,  of  those  now  engaged  in  conducting  them. 

As  competition  in  all  of  these  industries,  now  so  often 
ruinous  to  the  owners,  whether  individuals  or  powerful 
combinations,  would  cease,  prices  could  be  reduced  all 
around,  and  at  the  same  time  the  relative  profits  would 
greatly  increase. 

In  this  way  the  general  and  local  governments  would 
have  ample  revenues,  not  only  for  current  expenses,  but  for 
making  extensive  public  improvements  everywhere;  there- 
fore, the  second  object,  namely,  conciliating  the  great  mass 
of  the  population,  could  be  easily  accomplished  by  the  en- 
tire abolition  of  all  taxes  and  local  assessments  upon  pri- 
vate property  of  every  description,  which  would  no  longer 
be  necessary,  and  by  providing  work,  at  good  wages,  for 
all  those  in  need  of  it. 

By  a  simple  system  of  weekly  reports,  the  details  of  which 
have  all  been  worked  out,  and  are  now  in  successful  oper- 
ation in  some  countries,  and  to  a  limited  extent  in  some 
places  in  this  country,  the  residents  of  every  town  and  vil- 
lage, and  the  authorities,  would  always  know  the  exact 
conditions  of  labor  in  any  and  all  parts  of  the  country,  and 
the  supply  and  demand  for  labor  everywhere.  With  this 
knowledge  the  authorities,  as  a  mere  matter  affecting  their 
own  interests,  would  naturally  provide  employment  for 
those  in  need  of  it,  partly  upon  public  improvements,  and 
partly  by  providing  free  homes  upon  unoccupied  lands  for 
the  surplus  populations  of  the  cities. 

The  latter  could  be  done  without  ultimate  expense  to 
the  government,  but  on  the  contrary  at  a  handsome  profit 


230  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

to  it,  by  maintaining  settlers  upon  the  land,  under  thor- 
oughly competent  instructors  in  the  various  branches  of  ag- 
riculture, the  proceeds  of  their  labor  to  go  to  the  govern- 
ment for  five  or  six  years  in  lieu  of  all  other  pay  for  their 
homes.  By  this  means,  now  employed  with  entire  success 
in  other  countries,  the  close  competition  in  labor,  and  the 
consequent  strikes  and  industrial  disturbances,  would  en- 
tirely cease,  or  they  would  be  so  reduced  as  no  longer  to  be 
a  menace  to  the  peace  of  the  country. 

Moreover,  the  authorities  would  naturally  provide  many 
comforts  for  the  poorer  people  of  the  country  by  increasing 
the  number  of  public  holidays,  public  baths,  places  of  free 
public  amusements,  etc.,  etc. 

It  will  be  asked:  "Would  the  authorities  under  such  con- 
ditions do  all  these  things? 

Assuming  them  to  be  men  of  ordinary  intelligence,  they 
would,  if  only  from  motives  of  selfishness;  for  each  one 
within  his  jurisdiction  would  make  everything  attractive; 
just  as  a  storekeeper  does  his  store  or  a  railway  company 
does  its  cars  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  customers,  so  the 
authorities  under  an  empire,  being  all  under  the  civil  service 
rules  and  practically  in  for  life,  would  do  all  in  their  power 
to  make  the  territory  within  their  jurisdictions  attractive 
and  desirable  as  a  place  of  residence,  in  order  to  increase 
their  population  and  consequently  their  revenues. 

As  representation  in  legislative  assemblies  is  founded 
upon  the  theory:  "No  taxation  without  representation," 
all  taxes  being  abolished  under  the  system  here  fore- 
shadowed, the  necessity  or  occasion  for  representation  would 
no  longer  exist;  and  it  would  therefore  cease,  although  it 
would  be  a  wise  precaution  to  maintain  public  forums  in  all 
cities  and  villages,  as  places  where  people  could  assemble 
to  give  free  expression  to  their  views  upon  matters  of  pub- 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE   GREAT    REPUBLIC  231 

lie  interest;  thus  enabling  the  authorities  to  be  constantly 
in  touch  with  public  sentiment,  which  in  all  ages  and  under 
all  forms  of  government  must  be  taken  into  consideration. 

Under  such  conditions  would  not  the  authorities  be  guilty 
of  great  peculations  of  the  public  funds? 

Impossible ;  for  .the  simple  reason  that,  as  they  are  not 
derived  from  taxes  and  belong  to  the  authorities,  they  could 
not  steal  what  is  already  theirs;  just  as  the  profits  of  any 
business  belong  to  those  who  conduct  the  business,  and  their 
customers  feel  no  interest  in  the  way  they  are  spent. 

It  will  be  asked:  What,  then,  is  to  prevent  the  author- 
ities from  simply  pocketing  the  revenues,  instead  of  using 
them  for  the  public  good? 

As  before  intimated,  just  the  same  motives  which  cause 
any  business  man  to  put  back  into  his  business  enough  of 
the  proceeds  from  the  business  to  keep  it  going  success- 
fully. Moreover,  as  the  public  contribute  nothing  to  the 
revenues  under  compulsion,  but  use  the  public  facilities — 
street  cars,  telephones,  etc.,— only  in  so  far  as  it  suits  their 
convenience  and  their  interests,  their  relations  with  the  au- 
thorities would  be  of  the  same  nature  as  they  are  with  the 
business  men  from  whom  they  buy  such  commodities  as 
they  think  fit  to  purchase. 

Of  course,  in  case  of  a  local  ruler  being  so  utterly  dis- 
solute as  to  entirely  neglect  the  public  interests,  even  in  so 
far  as  to  disregard  his  own  welfare,  the  power  of  removal  for 
cause  would  always  exist  in  those  higher  in  authority,  upon 
complaint  of  those  who  suffer  by  reason  of  the  dissoluteness 
of  the  person  in  immediate  authority  over  them :  and  such 
person  would  be  removed  out  of  consideration  for  the  inter- 
ests of  the  one  to  whom  complaint  was  made. 

Some  persons  would  fear  that  such  a  system  might  result 
in  great  infringements  of  personal  liberty;  but  a  study  of 


232  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

history,  and  of  the  conditions  existing  where  such  a  govern- 
ment is  now  in  operation,  would  tend  to  remove  this  ap- 
prehension; and  would  rather  show  that,  under  such  con- 
ditions, the  utmost  personal  liberty  consistent  with  good 
order  may  and  does  exist. 

As  the  legislative  authority  would  be  in  the  hands  of 
very  few  persons,  whose  interests  would  induce  them  to 
employ,  as  advisers  and  heads  of  divisions  of  the  govern- 
ment, experts  in  their  various  lines,  it  would  be  far  easier 
to  secure  wise  legislation  than  it  is  where  large  hetero- 
geneous bodies  of  inexperienced  and  untrained  men  have  to 
be  convinced  of  the  desirability  of  proposed  legislation.  The 
same  cause  would  also  have  the  effect  of  reducing  the  num- 
ber of  laws  and  greatly  simplifying  them;  an  end  most  de- 
voutly to  be  desired. 

It  would  then  become  practicable  to  adopt  some  wise 
economic  system  for  the  country,  uniform  in  its  operation, 
such,  for  instance,  as  a  statute  of  limitations  of  universal 
application,  providing  that  all  debts,  obligations  and  mort- 
gages of  every  description  should  absolutely  lapse  and  cease 
to  exist,  without  power  of  continuance  or  revival,  even  by 
the  parties  in  interest,  at  midnight,  on  January  1st  of  each 
even  tenth  year  of  the  Gregorian  calendar  now  in  general 
use.  The  effect  of  this  would  be  to  forewarn  everyone,  and 
render  the  financial  and  industrial  crises,  now  so  frequent, 
utterly  impossible,  and  to  give  a  stability  to  the  industrial 
and  commercial  world  which  is  now  unknown,  but  ardently 
desired  by  all  right  minded  persons. 

It  would  be  possible  to  provide  that  all  contracts,  to  be 
legally  binding,  should  be  in  writing,  and  a  duly  authen- 
ticated copy  filed  with  a  notary  or  other  official,  which 
would  be  far  safer  than  the  present  loose  methods. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  233 

A  law  of  general  application  might  also  be  enacted  and 
enforced,  requiring  all  tradesmen  to  have  registered  labels 
for  their  goods,  a  law  enacted  in  some  states  since  this  was 
written,  by  which  they  could  always  be  identified;  and  a 
system  of  guarantees  as  to  the  quality  and  character  of  all 
articles  sold,  with  severe  penalties  for  adulteration  or  mis- 
representation. 

A  sweeping  reform  in  the  judicial  system  of  the  country 
could  be  accomplished;  and  the  jury  system, — which,  as 
it  now  exists,  is  too  often  a  farce  and  an  actual  impediment 
to  justice, — could  be  abolished,  the  forms  of  litigation  sim- 
plified, and  justice  promptly  administered;  the  judge  in  a 
knight's  jurisdiction  having  cognizance  of  all  causes  arising 
between  persons  within  his  jurisdiction;  the  judiciary  in  a 
baron's  court  having  jurisdiction  in  causes  arising  between 
residents  of  different  knights'  districts,  or  between  the  peo- 
ple and  the  authorities  within  that  jurisdiction;  and  so,  by 
a  regular  hierarchy,  the  various  jurisdictions  would  be  dis- 
tinct; but  with  the  right  of  appeal  from  each  to  the  one 
next  higher;  but  only  upon  making  out  a  prima  facie  case 
of  manifest  injustice  in  the  court  appealed  from,  and  with 
heavy  penalties  for  causing  needless  delay  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice. 

The  army  would  be  so  reorganized  as  to  have  it  consist 
of  men  who  would  always  be  ready  at  call,  but  required 
to  be  in  active  service  one  month  only  in  each  year.  Thus, 
if  the  monthly  relief  consisted  of  50,000.  an  army  of  600,000 
men  would  always  be  ready  at  call,  at  an  expense  of  main- 
taining 50,000  only,  and  all  would  have  one  month  of  ac- 
tive service  each  year,  weekly  drills  and  instructions,  and 
say,  two  weeks  of  autumn  maneuvres. 

The  ordinance  and  engineering  departments,  and  possibly 
some  others,  would  have  to  be  kept  constantly  occupied,  on 


234  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

account  of  the  technical  and  scientific  character  of  their 
duties;  but  the  expense  of  these  branches  of  the  service 
would  be  comparatively  small  and  of  great  use  in  public 
work,  etc.,  effecting  an  ultimate  great  saving  to  the  gov- 
ment. 

The  forestry  interests  of  the  country  could  be  cared  for 
under  a  uniform  system.  Mines  could  be  developed  to  the 
best  advantage,  and  their  discovery  promoted  by  granting 
to  the  finder  of  every  new  mine  a  portion  of  the  profits 
derived  from  working  it  by  the  government,  as  is  now  suc- 
cessfully done  in  some  countries. 

By  the  proper  management  of  the  public  domain,  and  a 
regular  system  of  irrigation  for  arid  districts,  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  settlers  upon  free  homes,  as  heretofore  out- 
lined, the  population,  and  the  wealth  and  power  of  the  na- 
tion and  government  could  be  vastly  increased. 

Were  it  not  that  it  would  make  this  article  too  long,  it 
would  be  inieresting  to  show  how  departments  of  the  gov- 
ernment, now  not  even  thought  of,  could  be  established  for 
the  encouragement  and  advancement  of  every  branch  of 
industry ;  so  that  vast  resources  in  our  country,  now  lying 
absolutely  idle  and  undeveloped,  could  be  made  productive, 
to  the  great  advantage  of  our  people ;  and  all  this  would  be 
far  more  easily  accomplished,  and  much  more  likely  to  be 
accomplished,  under  a  more  permanent  form  of  government, 
with  trained  employees  in  every  branch  of  administration, 
whether  general-  or  local,  than  under  ever-changing  execu- 
tives. 

Let  not  the  reader  suppose  that  the  writer  has  been  in- 
dulging in  a  fanciful  day  dream;  for  everything  here  sug- 
gested now  is,  or  has  been,  in  successful  operation  some- 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  235 

where  upon  this  planet  of  ours ;  and,  therefore,  everything 
herein  portrayed  has  been  proved  to  be  practicable. 

The  Roman  Historian  Polybius,  who  lived  and  wrote  long 
before  the  coming  of  Christ,  maintained  that  all  nations 
certainly  and  invariably  passed  through  three  forms  of  gov- 
ernment successively,  namely,  a  monarchy,  a  republic  and  a 
democracy,  that  the  primitive  and  natural  form  of  govern- 
ment is  monarchical,  that  after  a  time,  which  varies  greatly 
in  length  according  to  circumstances,  the  monarchy  always 
becomes  corrupt  and  oppressive;  that  those  who  first  resist 
oppression  are  the  great  land  owners  and  capitalists  who 
then  combine  to  form  an  oligarchy  or  republic;  that  this  in 
turn  causes  the  revenues  and  business  of  the  country  to 
accumulate  in  the  hands  of  a  favored  class,  as  is  very  much 
the  case  in  the  United  States  at  present  (1901),  and  that 
this  finally  leads  to  the  fall  of  tiie  republic,  sooner  or  later, 
as  was  the  case  in  Rome  and  every  other  country  in  the 
past  where  a  republic  has  existed ;  that  a  democracy  usually 
follows  the  republic,  but  as  this  form  of  government  is  apt 
to  be  unwieldy,  it  is  generally  followed  again  by  a  mon- 
archy. 

The  order  in  which  these  changes  take  place  is  not  always 
the  same,  and  the  length  of  time  that  each  form  of  govern- 
ment exists  may  be  very  long,  like  the  monarchy  in  France, 
which  had  existed  something  like  1,000  years  prior  to  1792, 
or  the  changes  may  be  rapid  as  has  been  the  case  in  France 
since  1792  when  the  different  forms  of  government  have 
followed  one  another  in  rapid  succession. 

These  United  States  began  as  colonies  under  a  monarchy. 
We  have  now  reached  the  republican  or  oligarchal  form  of 
government,  and  the  corruption  of  the  privileged  classes 


236  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

indicates  that  a  change  in  the  form  of  the  government  must 
soon  come,  and  whether  it  will  be  to  a  more  democratic  form 
of  government  or  to  an  imperial  form  of  monarchical  gov- 
ernment is  now  merely  a  matter  of  conjecture  and  guess- 
work, and  may  be  controlled  by. events  not  now  anticipated, 
such  as  another  foreign  war,  extensive  industrial  disturb- 
ances or  still  other  causes. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  237 


CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Island  Empire; 

or 

The  South  Bubble  Realized. 
Written  in  1897. 

All  readers  who  are  at  all  familiar  with  the  history  of 
Great  Britain,  know  that  between  the  years  1700  and  1725, 
a  certain  Captain  Patterson,  who  was  among  the  first  nav- 
igators to  obtain  definite  knowledge  of  the  islands  in  the 
Southern  Pacific  Ocean,  set  on  foot  a  plan  to  colonize  these 
islands  with  Europeans. 

It  is  now  well  known  to  those  who  have  navigated  those 
seas  that  the  numerous  islands  to  be  found  there,  which 
number  many  thousands,  contain  an  aggregate  area  of  land 
of  very  great  extent,  probably  much  greater  than  the  whole 
of  the  United  States,  exclusive  of  those  groups  that  have 
already  been  settled  by  white  people. 

It  is  equally  well  known  to  those  having  any  definite  in- 
formation on  the  subject,  that  those  islands  abound  with 
natural  resources  of  almost  every  description. 

That  coffee,  cocoanuts,  bananas,  sugar  cane,  yams,  pine- 
apples, and  a  great  variety  of  other  valuable  fruits  of  the 
earth  grow  there  with  the  rank  luxuriance  of  weeds.  That 
the  precious  and  almost  priceless  sandal-wood  is  still  found 
in  great  abundance  upon  some  of  these  islands.  That  many 
other  kinds  of  timber  that  are  in  demand  for  fine  cabinet 


238  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

work  and  for  other  commercial  purposes,  are  there  in  almost 
unlimited  quantities.  That  rich  pearl  fisheries,  and  an  al- 
most endless  supply  of  marketable  fish,  are  almost  undis- 
turbed in  fisheries  capable  of  supplying  the  markets  of  the 
world.  That  the  rich  and  fertile  soil  and  equable  climate, 
tempered  by  the  trade  winds,  which  are  almost  as  reliable 
as  the  changes  of  the  moon,  make  these  islands  capable  of 
producing,  in  almost  infinite  abundance,  everything  that 
mother  earth  has  ever  yielded  to  her  children.  So  that 
here  would  be  the  natural  source  of  supply  of  sugar, 
coffee,  tea,  cotton,  tobacco,  all  the  fruits  of  the  vine  and 
the  orchard,  the  finest  silks  and  linens  and  a  thousand  other 
things  of  use  to  the  human  family  and  for  which  the  wealth 
of  the  world  would  be  poured  out  for  the  producers.  And 
yet  probably  less  than  one  person  in  a  hundred  thousand, 
can  today,  make  an  intelligent  statement  as  to  where  and 
what  the  South  Sea  Islands  are.  Still  fewer  know  that  they 
contain  vast  droves  of  hogs  and  goats  that  can  be  had  for 
the  killing,  besides  inexhaustible  quantities  of  wild  pigeons 
and  other  game  birds,  making  them  in  many  ways  what  an 
enthusiastic  writer  has  called  them,  "An  Earthly  Paradise," 
where  all  man's  wants  are  supplied  in  endless  abundance 
without  effort  on  his  part,  and  where  wealth  awaits  him  as 
in  no  other  part  of  the  earth. 

All  this,  or  at  least  the  substance  of  it,  Captain  Patter- 
son had  verified  by  personal  observation,  and  he  returned 
to  Great  Britain  with  reliable  information,  which  he  made 
public.  He  then  proceeded  to  organize  a  company  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  the  means  to  colonize  this  great,  unknown 
world  of  fertile  and  beautiful  islands. 

His  plans  were  hailed  with  the  utmost  enthusiasm  by  the 
people  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  required  amount  of  stock 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  239 

•was  quickly  subscribed  for,  and  could  have  been  sold  many 
times  over. 

Then  a  horde  of  reckless  speculators  took  advantage  of 
the  widespread  interest  in  this  great  enterprise,  and  a  thou- 
sand and  one  wild  undertakings  were  set  on  foot,  many  of 
them  more  or  less  directly  connected  with  the  original 
scheme  which  had  been  so  carefully  and  laboriously  worked 
out  by  Patterson.  The  result  of  all  this  feverish  specula- 
tion was  that  many  swindling  concerns  were  planned  by 
which  the  public  were  to  be  imposed  upon.  And  so  by  de- 
grees, the  minds  of  the  people  were  confused,  and  many 
unworthy  attempts  were  confounded  with  Patterson 's  ef- 
forts, bringing  them  into  discredit,  until  finally  a  great  re- 
action came,  and  no  one  any  longer  knew  who  to  trust,  and 
this  ultimately  led  to  an  entire  loss  of  faith  in  poor  Patter- 
son, and  the  utter  failure  of  his  undertaking,  and  so  one  of 
the  grandest  colonization  movements  ever  attempted  came 
to  naught. 

Part  of  Patterson's  plan  was  to  open  communications  be- 
tween Europe  and  the  Pacific  Islands  across  the  Isthmus  of 
Darian.  By  means  of  the  Panama  railway,  which  has  be- 
come one  of  the  richest,  and  when  we  take  its  mileage  into 
consideration,  perhaps  the  richest  railway  company  in  the 
world,  that  part  of  the  plan  has  become  an  accomplished 
fact.  But  poor  Patterson  never  lived  to  see  it.  In  fact  his 
very  name  was  almost  forgotten  before  it  was  done. 

(For  verification  of  the  foregoing  statements,  see  any  good 
encyclopoedia  or  history  of  England  or  Scotland.) 

All  that  Patterson  had  learned  about  these  islands  has 
been  far  more  than  verified  by  the  comparatively  few  per- 
sons who  have  navigated  among  them,  and  their  fertility 
and  natural  resources  have  proved  to  be  incalculably  greater 
than  he  ever  dreamed  of  in  his  wildest  flights  of  imagina- 


240  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

tion;  yet  they  still  remain  almost  unknown  to  most  of  the 
civilized  world. 

This  vast  aggregation  of  fertile  islands,  teeming  with 
natural  wealth,  is  the  theme  of  the  following  narrative: 

Mr.  J.  Stonlar  was  of  Danish  extraction,  and  at  the  be- 
ginning of  our  story  he  was  approaching  middle  life.  In 
appearance  he  was  of  medium  height,  strongly  built,"  with 
blue  eyes  and  brown  hair,  slightly  tinged  with  gray.  He 
was  a  civil  engineer  of  experience,  and  had  spent  some 
years  as  a  military  officer,  in  the  service  of  his  country.  He 
was  a  man  of  studious  habits,  seeming  to  care  but  little  for 
society  in  general,  and  nothing  at  all  for  the  dissipations 
and  amusements  of  somewhat  unsavory  character,  in  which 
many  men  expend  much  of  their  time  and  means. 

He  made  a  careful  study  of  whatever  he  was  engaged  in. 
Thus  as  a  civil  engineer  he  had  acquired  an  amount  of 
information  far  beyond  that  usually  possessed  by  those  en- 
gaged in  that  profession. 

As  a  military  officer,  he  was  by  no  means  content  to 
learn  merely  the  tactics  as  taught  in  the  drill-books  used 
by  his  comrades-in-arms;  and  as  soon  as  he  mastered  these 
he  made  a  careful,  scientific  study  of  the  campaigns  of  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  Hanibal,  Julius  Caeser,  Frederick  the  Great, 
Napoleon,  Grant,  Sherman,  and  such  others  as  he  could 
obtain  access  to,  besides  works  on  ballistics,  logistics  and 
other  subjects  pertaining  to  military  science;  and  he  se- 
cured and  read  with  the  greatest  interest  some  of  the  stand- 
ard works  on  strategy,  such  as  De  Jomini  and  others,  and 
also  everything  that  he  could  find  upon  military  engineer- 
ing and  upon  the  organization  and  equipment  of  the  armies 
of  the  great  nations  of  the  earth. 

As  an  American  citizen,  he  delved  far  deeper  than  the 
majority  of  people  into  the  science  of  government,  and  par- 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  241 

ticularly  the  study  of  political  economy,  on  which  latter 
subject  he  framed  a  complete  system  of  his  own,  founded 
upon  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  fundamental  principles 
of  political  economy,  always  seeking  to  establish  clearly 
in  his  mind  what  he  was  pleased  to  call  the  "Key  to  the 
Situation,"  deriving  his  impressions  from  the  actual  expe- 
rience of  the  human  family  as  illustrated  by  history,  rather 
than  from  the  known  theories  of  those  who  are  generally 
considered  to  be  writers  of  authority  upon  the  subject. 

The  more  he  studied,  the  more  he  became  convinced  that 
the  great  principles  of  political  economy  had  been  lost  sight 
of  or  wantonly  ignored  in  the  turmoil  of  political  conten- 
tion that  kept  the  country  in  a  state  of  almost  continual  ex- 
citement, and  he  became  impressed  with  the  belief  that  the 
condition  of  the  people  in  the  United  States  would  go  from 
bad  to  worse  until  great  disturbances  took  place  and  a  new 
order  of  things  was  established. 

He  completely  lost  faith  in  universal  suffrage,  and  he 
often  said  to  himself,  "Talk  of  educating  the  people  until 
they  can  vote  intelligently  upon  these  subjects.  Why,  it 
would  take  a  lifetime  for  a  man  to  master  them  if  he  de- 
voted his  entire  time  to  them  alone,  and  even  then  he  would 
be  an  old  man  before  he  could  attain  to  even  a  fair  profi- 
ciency in  these  most  profound  sciences.  How  then  can 
people  who  have  to  earn  their  livelihood  at  the  sweat  of 
their  brow  find  time  for  such  deep  scientific  researches, 
especially  those  who  have  barely  acquired  the  rudiments  of 
an  ordinary  education,  and  who  must  necessarily  constitute 
a  large  percentage  of  the  population,  as  long  as  people  have 
to  work  for  their  living.  No,  sir;  it  won't  work,  and  we 
can  never  hope  for  better  things  until  those  entrusted  with 
affairs  of  state  are  selected  and  promoted  upon  a  regular 


242  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

system  of  advancement  founded  upon  fitness  and  experi- 
ence, as  in  other  walks  of  life." 

He  daily  saw  new  proofs  of  the  correctness  of  his  views 
in  the  continually  increasing  difficulty  of  earning  a  liveli- 
hood by  ordinary  means,  and  the  growing  distress  and  dis- 
content of  the  toilers  of  the  country,  which  was  sometimes 
emphasized  by  riot  and  bloodshed,  yet  no  effort  seemed  to 
be  made  to  reduce  all  these  troubles  to  a  system  and  apply 
a  sweeping  and  permanent  remedy. 

Finally  he  became  thoroughly  disheartened  at  the  outlook, 
and  secretly  determined  to  try  to  put  into  execution  plans 
upon  which  he  had  long  been  seriously  reflecting  and 
working. 

He  was  then  in  the  prime  of  life  and  had  a  wife  and  two 
little  girls,  Natalie  and  Garda,  respectively,  seven  and  five 
years  of  age,  to  all  of  whom  he  was  most  devotedly  at- 
tached and  for  whom  he  was  very  ambitious. 

Like  most  parents  in  the  United  States,  when  he  had 
money  he  had  spent  it  lavishly  upon  his  family,  and  when 
he  was  unable  to  continue  to  do  this,  his  wife  complained 
of  the  change.  This  wrung  his  very  heart,  for  he  could 
not  bear  to  see  her  or  the  children  deprived  of  anything. 

The  Voyage  of  Discovery. 

Having  made  his  plans,  he  left  his  wife  and  little  ones  in 
the  care  of  relatives,  and  bidding  them  farewell,  with  an 
aching  heart  he  turned  towards  the  Pacific  coast,  and  in  a 
few  days  was  in  San  Francisco. 

He  had  read  of  Patterson's  South  Sea  Bubble  and  read 
everything  that  he  could  find  about  the  Pacific  Islands,  and 
although  the  literature  on  the  subject  was  surprisingly 
meagre,  yet  he  felt  as  certain  that  among  the  islands  of  the 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  243 

Southern  Pacific  ocean  there  was  a  great  and  almost  un- 
known world  of  vast  resources,  as  Columbus  did  that  there 
was  land  across  the  Atlantic  ocean. 

He  spent  several  months  in  San  Francisco,  and  at  times 
was  in  sad  straights  for  the  bare  necessaries  of  life.  How- 
ever, he  was  fortunate  in  falling  in  with  a  Captain  Robert, 
a  man  of  French  descent,  who  had  spent  a  great  many  years 
in  navigating  the  South  Seas,  and  who  was  then  engaged 
in  fitting  out  a  schooner  for  the  South  Sea  trade.  Stonlar 
tried  to  arrange  to  go  with  the  captain,  but  he  was  told 
that  the  owners  of  the  vessel  were  very  jealous  of  the  in- 
formation that  the  captain  possessed  about  the  trade  among 
the  South  Sea  Islands,  and  that  they  certainly  would  not 
allow  him  to  go.  Nothing  daunted  he  continued  to  meet 
the  captain  almost  daily,  and  finally  it  was  settled  that  he 
was  to  ship  as  a  seaman.  He  arranged  with  the  captain 
that  if  he  could  raise  a  few  hundred  dollars  to  be  invested 
in  the  voyage  he  was  to  be  treated  as  a  passenger,  and  after 
almost  endless  disappointments  and  discouragements,  he 
succeeded,  through  the  assistance  of  old  friends,  in  raising 
the  required  amount  which  was  entered  in  the  books  of 
the  owners  of  the  vessel  as  having  been  invested  in  the 
trading  cargo  by  the  captain. 

All  these  preliminaries  having  been  arranged  by  the  time 
the  vessel  was  ready  to  sail;  she  cleared,  and  one  beautiful 
day  in  May  she  was  towed  out  through  the  Golden  Gate, 
past  the  great  guns  of  the  Presidio,  and  so6n  Stonlar  found 
himself  on  the  blue  Pacific.  He  had  not  heard  from  his 
wife  for  many  weeks  before  his  departure,  but  he  had  as- 
certained that  she  and  the  little  ones  were  well  and  com- 
fortably situated,  and  he  wrote  a  long,  affectionate  letter 
to  them,  saying  enough  of  his  plans  to  apprise  them  of  the 
length  of  time  that  he  was  likely  to  be  gone. 


244  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

Sometimes  when  he  sat  alone,  as  he  often  did,  a  physiono- 
mist  would  have  studied  his  face  with  interest.  His  usual 
expression  was  gentle  and  calm,  almost  to  listlessness.  Yet 
there  were  unmistakable  indications  of  great  determina- 
tion and  fixedness  of  purpose,  and  at  times,  when  aroused 
from  a  reverie,  or  engaged  in  conversation  with  the  cap- 
tain, his  face  would  light  up  with  a  look  of  energy  and 
eagerness  that  would  have  astonished  anyone  who  had  seen 
it  only  in  repose. 

The  steady  trade  winds  carried  them  swiftly  on  their 
course.  Except  for  a  gentle  swell  the  water  was  calm  and 
blue  like  the  sky  above  them.  Almost  the  only  variety  in 
the  outlook  was  the  gulls  and  koumies  that  continually 
skimmed  over  the  water  in  all  directions,  and  sometimes  a 
school  of  porpoises  or  a  passing  vessel  relieved  the  mo- 
notony. But  Stonlar's  mind  was  never  idle.  He  planned 
and  thought,  and  studied  his  plans  over  again,  and  he  con- 
stantly thought  of  his  wife  and  little  ones  who  were  so  far 
away,  and  he  offered  up  many  an  earnest  prayer  for  their 
welfare,  for  he  was  a  man  of  religious  principle  and  strong 
faith  in  an  overruling  Providence.  At  night  he  often 
dreamed  of  the  dear  ones  at  home,  and  this  was  always  a 
great  comfort  to  him. 

On  the  sixteenth  day  after  leaving  San  Francisco,  they 
dropped  anchor  in  Honolulu  Bay,  at  the  Island  of  Oahu, 
of  the  Hawaiian  (or  Sandwich)  Island  group. 

Stonlar  was  much  pleased  with  the  fine  streets  and  build- 
ings of  Honolulu,  the  palace  and  other  government  build- 
ings, and  he  was  much  amused  by  the  crowd  of  little  na- 
tives who  swam  about  in  the  bay,  ever  ready  to  dive  to 
the  bottom  for  a  piece  of  coin,  which  they  never  failed  to 
find  and  bring  to  the  surface.  He  heard  the  famous  Ha- 
waiian band  composed  of  native  Kanakas,  but  was  much 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  245 

surprised  to  learn  that  a  large  portion  of  the  islands  was 
unoccupied  and  undeveloped. 

Here  they  took  aboard  two  native  pearl  divers,  and  after 
a  stop  of  only  one  day  the  voyage  was  continued,  and  about 
two  weeks  later  they  made  a  short  stop  at  the  Samoan 
Islands,  where  some  of  the  natives  were  seen  in  a  much  more 
primitive  state  than  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  For  many 
of  them  dressed  their  hair  with  cocoanut  oil  which  has  the 
effect  of  making  it  stand  out  straight,  in  all  directions,  giv- 
ing them  the  wild  and  savage  appearnce  commonly  at- 
tributed to  cannibals,  although  it  is  well  known  that  can- 
nibalism is  unknown  among  them  nor  have  they  any  tradi- 
tions of  a  time  when  it  existed  there. 

As  the  native  inhabitants  of  these  islands  live  entirely 
upon  the  natural  fruits  of  the  earth,  which  grow  sponta- 
neously without  any  exertion  on  the  part  of  man,  poverty, 
in  the  sense  of  ever  being  in  want  of  the  necessaries  of 
life,  is  unknown  among  them,  and  consequently  they  are 
all  ladies  ( ?)  and  gentlemen  (?)  of  leisure,  and  they  devote 
much  of  their  time  to  amusements,  and  to  athletic  sports 
in  which  they  excel. 

Stonlar  was  surprised  at  the  intelligence  depicted  upon 
the  countenances  of  the  people,  the  gentleness  of  their  man- 
ners, the  regularity  of  the  features  of  most  of  them.  He 
also  found  that  their  complexions  were  much  lighter  than 
he  had  supposed,  many  of  them  being  no  darker  than  any 
white  person  who  has  lived  an  out-of-door  life.  But  what 
surprised  him  most  was  their  proficiency  in  music,  for  he 
heard  many  voices  of  a  range  and  sweetness  that  he  never 
supposed  existed  among  such  a  people,  and  he  could  read- 
ily believe  the  statement  that  he  heard,  that  when  these 
people  were  first  discovered  by  white  navigators,  they  pos- 


246  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

sessed  a  knowledge  of  the  musical  scale  or  gamut,  which  is 
entirely  unknown  to  nearly  all  savage  races. 

After  a  three  days'  stay,  they  set  sail  again  and  before 
many  days  they  reached  the  Fiji  group,  with  its  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  islands,  through  which  they  sailed,  admir- 
ing the  exquisite  green  of  the  hills  and  valleys  and  the  beau- 
tiful groves  of  forest  trees  on  some  of  them.  Then  chang- 
ing their  course  they  steered  directly  for  the  islands  at 
which  their  trading  was  to  be  done,  and  as  they  neared 
their  destination,  a  few  days  later,  they  could  see  upon 
the  islands  that  they  passed,  many  huts  built  of  poles  with 
thatched  roofs  made  of  grass  or  palm  leaves,  and  many 
groups  of  savages  were  either  moving  about  on  the  shore 
or  paddling  their  log  canoes  through  the  water,  and  in  all 
of  the  islands  that  they  had  passed,  they  observed  many 
groves  of  cocoanut  palms,  banana,  pineapple  and  other  fruit- 
bearing  trees,  growing  in  the  wildest  luxuriance,  without 
the  slightest  cultivation,  constituting  in  themselves  a  source 
of  wealth  which  had  only  to  be  gathered  by  anyone  who 
wished,  to  turn  it  to  account. 

At  the  first  place  at  which  they  made  a  landing,  the  sav- 
ages kept  at  a  distance  all  through  the  day,  as  if  afraid  of 
being  attacked,  and  they  could  not  be  induced  to  come  near 
at  all.  Upon  returning  to  the  vessel,  which  they  did  every 
night,  they  left  upon  the  shore  some  trinkets,  such  as  bright 
colored  beads,  bits  of  gaudily  colored  calico,  small  looking- 
glasses,  harmonicons.  etc.,  which  were  eagerly  gathered  up 
by  the  natives,  when  their  visitors  had  withdrawn  to  a  safe 
distance. 

The  next  day  a  number  of  the  native  men  gathered  about 
the  party  when  they  landed,  and  upon  becoming  satisfied 
that  they  had  only  come  to  trade,  they  became  more  confi- 
dent, and  before  long  began  to  bring  their  women  and  chil- 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  247 

dren  with  them,  thus  showing  their  confidence  in  the  peace- 
ful intentions  of  the  white  strangers.  Many  of  them  were 
fine  looking,  with  well  rounded  forms  and  good  muscular 
development  and  regular  features,  without  the  thick  lips  of 
some  of  the  African  tribes,  whom  in  fact,  they  ,have  not  the 
slightest  relationship  with,  as  they  belong  to  an  entirely 
different  race.  Their  hair  was  straight,  of  a  brownish  color, 
having  been  originally  black,  but  afterwards  partially 
bleached  by  the  use  of  cocoanut  oil.  They  wore  but  very 
little  clothing. 

After  a  number  of  islands  had  been  visited,  to  some  of 
which  the  schooner  had  been  on  trading  trips  before,  and 
the  cargo  brought  with  them  had  all  been  disposed  of, 
preparations  were  made  for  the  return  voyage. 

They  had  secured  nearly  a  full  cargo  of  cocoanuts,  besides 
a  quantity  of  sponges,  mother-of-pearl,  a  fine  collection  of 
pearls,  some  of  them  quite  valuable,  and  (most  of  them  ob- 
tained in  trade,  although  some  of  them  had  been  secured 
by  the  divers  brought  in  the  schooner),  and  various  curi- 
osities, such  as  birds  of  paradise,  some  paroquettes,  and  as 
many  of  the  feathered  tribe  as  could  be  conveniently  cared 
for  on  the  vessel;  they  felt  well  satisfied  with  their  stay 
among  the  islands,  which  had  lasted  less  than  two  months. 
During  this  time  they  had  always  been  able  to  obtain  all 
the  fresh  water  they  needed,  and  by  occasional  hunts  for 
pigs  and  goats,  which  they  found  wild  in  great  quantities 
upon  some  of  the  islands,  they  had  been  able  to  secure 
fresh  meat  of  an  excellent  quality. 

Stonlar  was  conviced  of  the  great  fertility  of  the  soil  and 
the  perfect  availability  of  the  islands  for  the  purpose  which 
he  had  in  view,  and  many  an  evening  as  he  lay  upon  the 
deck  of  the  schooner  watching  the  sun  sink  into  the  blue 
expanse  of  ocean  which  washed  the  green  islands,  in  the 


248  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

glorious  light  that  bathed  them  at  such  times,  they  seemed 
to  him  like  a  vision  of  fairyland,  and  he  had  dreams  of  a 
great  future  for  this  vast  "Island  Empire"  which  as  yet 
was  almost  unknown  to  the  outside  world. 

The  homeward  voyage  was  somewhat  longer  than  the  out- 
ward trip,  but  in  due  time  they  arrived  at  San  Francisco, 
where  Stonlar  soon  found  that  his  little  venture  had  nearly 
doubled  the  money  that  he  had  put  into  it. 

As  soon  as  possible  he  sent  a  remittance  to  his  wife  to 
provide  for  her  wants  for  some  months  to  come,  yet  much 
as  he  wished  to  see  her  and  the  little  ones,  he  felt  that  he 
could  not  yet  spare  the  means  to  make  the  trip.  This  he 
explained  in  his  letter  to  her,  and  he  had  the  great  satis- 
faction of  receiving  a  letter  from  her  expressing  much  joy 
at  his  success,  together  with  loving  messages  from  the  little 
ones  for  papa.  This  encouraged  him  immensely,  and  he  at 
once  set  about  carrying  out  the  plan  that  he  had  so  long 
had  at  heart. 

The  First  Expedition. 

By  much  persevering  effort,  Stonlar  succeeded  in  getting 
together  sixty  sturdy  men  to  return  with  him  to  the  island 
that  he  selected.  About  half  of  these  were  men  who  had 
been  honorably  discharged  from  the  United  States  army  or 
navy.  Seventeen  were  men  of  family,  who  like  Stonlar,  had 
become  utterly  discouraged  and  disheartened  at  the  entire 
uncertainty  of  gaining  a  livelihood  in  their  own  country  by 
honest  labor,  and  who  were  ready  to  do  almost  anything 
that  offered  a  hope  of  improvement,  and  who  gladly  ac- 
cepted the  opening  thus  offered,  as  they  were  convinced 
that  at  least  they  could  be  no  worse  off  than  they  were. 

Each  one  of  the  party  was  required  to  have  enough  money 
to  provide  himself  with  a  good  rifle  and  a  supply  of  am- 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  249 

munition  and  to  contribute  a  small  amount  to  a  general  fund 
for  the  purchase  of  such  tools  as  were  deemed  necessary 
to  begin  the  undertaking  which  had  been  outlined  to  them, 
and  a  moderate  supply  of  such  comforts  in  the  way  of  pro- 
visions and  other  things  considered  most  essential,  and 
which  they  could  not  expect,  for  some  time,  to  be  able  to 
furnish  on  the  island,  and  each  one  was  also  obliged  to  pay 
a  very  moderate  charge  for  his  transportation  to  the  island. 

This  last  amount  was  very  little  for  the  reason  that  a 
contract  was  made  with  the  owners  of  the  schooner  that 
they  were  to  give  such  time  as  might  be  required  to  secure 
cargoes  for  the  vessel  at  the  islands,  thus  saving  much  ex- 
pense to  the  owners  in  their  trading  operations. 

The  vessel  owners  also  made  arrangements  by  which  the 
proceeds  of  the  trading  voyages  were  to  be  divided  by  a 
responsible  third  party  who  was  to  apply  them  in  the  manner 
specified  in  a  very  clearly  drawn  contract  prepared  under 
the  direction  of  Stonlar. 

Each  one  of  the  party  also  bound  himself  to  obey  Ston- 
lar's  orders,  from  the  moment  the  vessel  should  leave  San 
Francisco  and  to  devote  his  labor  to  the  common  good  for 
six  years,  under  a  system  distinctly  agreed  to  between 
Stonlar  and  them,  in  return  for  which  each  one  was  to 
receive  a  stated  quantity  of  land  with  certain  specified  im- 
provements and  a  stipulated  quantity  of  implements,  cat- 
tle, poultry,  etc. 

All  things  being  at  last  in  readiness,  and  Stonlar  having 
written  an  affectionate  and  hopeful  letter  to  his  wife  and 
children.  On  a  lovely  day  in  autumn  the  little  schooner 
once  more  passed  out  through  the  Golden  Gate  onto  the 
blue  Pacific.  The  same  regular  trade  winds  and  fair 
weather  that  had  been  experienced  during  the  former  voy- 


250  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

ages  prevailed  now  also,  and  without  any  incident  of  im- 
portance, our  "Pilgrims"  arrived  safely  at  their  destination. 

Everyone  was  delighted  with  the  island  that  had  been 
selected  for  their  abode.  The  beauty  of  the  scenery,  the  vast 
expanse  of  blue  ocean  dotted  in  every  direction,  as  far  as 
the  eye  could  see,  with  green  islands,  with  hill  and  dale, 
forest  and  stream  nearer  to  them,  made  a  veritable  scene 
of  enchantment.  The  island  was  about  fifty  miles  in  length 
and  nearly  eight  in  width  at  the  widest  part,  and 
showed  every  evidence  of  possessing  the  richest  soil.  It 
also  contained  springs  of  fine  water.  Moreover,  the  re- 
freshing breezes  that  were  continually  wafted  over  it  so 
far  moderated  the  temperature,  that  it  was  hard  to  realize 
that  they  were  in  the  tropics.  No  savages  inhabited  this 
island,  which  prevented  the  necessity  of  a  clash  with  them 
at  the  outset,  which  was  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the 
little  settlement. 

The  first  few  days  were  devoted  to  building  a  stockade, 
with  earthworks  and  a  ditch,  to  guard  against  the  danger 
of  a  surprise  from  a  possible  attack  of  the  savages  during 
the  absence  of  the  schooner.  As  timber  was  plentiful  near 
at  hand,  and  they  all  worked  with  a  will,  it  did  not  take 
long  to  complete  an  enclosure  large  enough  to  contain  all 
the  living  apartments  and  workships,  with  room  for  such 
live  stock  as  they  might  shortly  acquire,  to  be  kept  in  over 
night.  At  each  angle  was  a  flanking  tower,  somewhat  after 
the  style  of  the  blockhouses  of  former  days,  thus  enabling 
the  occupants,  in  case  of  need,  to  rake  the  walls  with  a 
destructive  fire  which  would  effectually  prevent  any  at- 
tempt to  take  the  place  by  assault.  And  as  soon  as  this 
work  was  complete,  a  number  of  goats  and  hogs  were  cap- 
tured upon  neighboring  islands  and  brought  to  the  settle- 
ment, where  they  were  allowed  to  run  at  large,  as.  they  re- 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  251 

quired  absolutely  no  care  whatever,  excepting  some  female 
goats  with  kids  by  their  sides  which  were  kept  in  to  furnish 
milk,  and  with  good  management,  within  a  few  days  they 
were  so  far  domesticated  as  to  allow  themselves  to  be  regu- 
larly milked.  As  both  sugar  cane  and  coffee  grew  wild  on 
the  island,  arrangements  were  made  to  provide  a  supply  of 
both  for  future  use.  Then  began  the  planting  of  vegetables 
to  supply  the  table,  and  after  this  some  cereals  were  planted 
in  small  fields  prepared  entirely  by  hand,  as  no  horses  had 
yet  been  provided. 

Before  the  end  of  the  trading  cruise  among  the  neighbor- 
ing islands,  Stonlar  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  all  this 
work  nearly  completed.  The  men  were  all  in  excellent 
trim  after  their  sea  voyage,  and  worked  cheerfully,  for  they 
saw  before  them  a  very  promising  prospect. 

A  regular  provisional  government  was  established  on  the 
plan  of  a  military. organization.  All  property,  except  com- 
missary supplies,  was  under  the  charge  of  a  quarter-master, 
to  whom  a  strict  account  had  to  be  given  for  every  article 
used.  A  commissary  department  looked  after  the  eatables 
and  was  responsible  for  the  proper  conduct  of  the  culinary 
establishment.  A  physician  and  a  young  medical  student, 
who  had  joined  the  expedition,  formed  the  health  depart- 
ment. 

As  the  men  were  required  to  work  only  half  of  each  day, 
a  short  time  was  daily  devoted  to  military  training,  which 
was  greatly  facilitated  by  the  military  and  naval  element 
present.  An  ex-cavalry  buglar  sounded  the  calls  for  the 
various  duties  of  the  day.  A  lookout  was  established,  with 
regular  reliefs,  on  a  hill  which  commanded  the  entire  coast- 
line of  the  island  and  a  great  expanse  of  sea  and  land  be- 
sides^. Provision  was  also  made  for  courts  martial  for  the 
trial  of  breaches  of  discipline.  Strict  orders  were  given 


252  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

regulating  whatever  communications  might  be  necessary 
with  the  savages  on  the  neighboring  islands,  and  carefully 
guarding  against  the  danger  of  collisions  with  them. 

As  several  of  the  party  had  brought  musical  instruments 
with  them,  such  as  flutes,  banjos,  mandolins,  accordians,  har- 
monicons  and  some  others,  there  was  more  or  less  instru- 
mental music  each  evening  as  well  as  some  very  creditable 
singing. 

Each  morning  and  evening  the  entire  community  were 
summoned  to  prayer  which  they  said  in  common  or  indi- 
vidually as  their  consciences  dictated.  Profane  and  inde- 
cent language  were  strictly  forbidden.  Thus  order,  har- 
mony of  interests,  industry,  involving  only  moderate  labor, 
and  an  excellent  moral  tone  were  established  at  the  outset 
and  easily  maintained. 

The  evening  before  his  departure  for  more  recruits,  Ston- 
lar  was  serenaded  and  presented  with  an  address  which 
afforded  him  much  gratification  as  an  indication  that  his 
efforts  had  been  appreciated. 

He  had  turned  over  his  command,  until  his  return,  to  a 
man  who  had  seen  many  years  of  military  service,  and  who 
also  had  the  important  characteristics  of  firmness  and  jus- 
tice tempered  with  mildness  and  a  kindly  disposition. 

It  was  with  feelings  of  sincere  regret  that  he  left  the 
little  colony  after  a  stay  of  scarcely  five  weeks  with  them. 
But  everything  had  been  so  well  begun  and  their  time  was 
so  fully  laid  out  until  his  return  that  he  had  the  utmost  con- 
fidence in  the  proper  conduct  of  affairs  during  his  absence. 

The  return  voyage,  like  most  voyages  on  the  Pacific  ocean, 
was  made  without  accident  and  without  serious  incon- 
venience from  bad  weather. 

This  also  had  been  a  profitable  cruise  for  Stonlar,  whose 
investment  having  been  larger  than  in  his  former  ven- 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  253 

ture,  yielded  him  returns  sufficiently  large  to  make  him  feel 
easier  financially  than  for  many  years  past.  As  it  was  near 
Christmas,  he  sent  a  liberal  remittance  to  his  family  and 
announced  his  intention  to  spend  Christmas  with  them,  and 
within  another  fortnight  he  was  once  more  at  home  with 
his  wife  and  little  ones,  enjoying  the  happiness  of  a  re- 
union that  can  only  be  appreciated  by  those  who  have  been 
unwilling  wanderers  far  from  those  who  are  dearest  to  them 
on  earth. 

He  talked  but  little  of  his  enterprise  beyond  his  trading 
cruises,  but  after  a  short  stay  he  again  took  an  affectionate 
leave  of  his  family,  after  having  provided  for  their  wants 
for  some  time  to  come,  and  once  more  returned  to  San 
Francisco  where  he  arrived  soon  after  the  beginning  of  the 
year,  and  at  once  set  about  looking  up  emigrants  for  his 
little  colony.  With  letters  from  those  who  remained  on  the 
island  and  his  own  representations  he  soon  had  more  ap- 
plications for  passage  on  the  schooner  than  could  be  ac- 
commodated. 

By  careful  economy  of  space  the  owners  were  able  to  pro- 
vide for  ninety-seven  emmigrants,  without  seriously  cur- 
tailing their  trading  cargo.  Upon  arriving  at  the  island, 
it  was  found  that  such  good  order  and  discipline  had  been 
maintained  that  there  were  no  serious  breaches  of  order  to 
report,  and  there  had  been  no  illness  of  importance,  and 
only  one  death  which  resulted  from  accidental  drowning  in 
the  sea. 

The  vegetables  had  yielded  abundantly  in  the  fertile  soil 
with  but  little  labor,  so  that  there  was  a  plentiful  supply  for 
the  table.  Many  of  the  cereals  had  also  done  well  in  the 
little  experimental  fields  in  which  they  had  been  sown. 

Enough  berries  from  the  wild  coffee  plants  had  been 
gathered,  dried,  roasted  and  ground  to  supply  all  require- 


254  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

ments  of  the  settlement,  and  under  the  directions  of  a  couple 
of  men  who  had  lived  on  Southern  plantations,  sugar  cane 
had  been  cut,  and  by  very  primitve  methods,  some  mo- 
lasses had  been  made  and  also  some  course,  brown  sugar. 
Some  farmers  of  the  party  had  cured  a  quantity  of  hams 
and  bacon.  In  fact,  all  of  the  necessaries  of  life  and  some 
of  the  comforts  also  had  been  produced  with  but  little 
efforts.  Wild  fruits  and  vegetables  were  found  far  in  ex- 
cess of  what  were  needed  for  consumption.  In  a  word,  the 
fertility  and  fitness  of  these  islands  had  been  fully  dem- 
onstrated, and  from  this  time  forward  the  colony  grew  with 
great  rapidity.  Soon  two  schooners  instead  of  one  were 
engaged  in  carrying  emigrants,  and  it  became  necessary  to 
take  up  more  territory.  So  many  of  these  islands  were 
entirely  unoccupied,  even  by  savages,  that  no  conflicts  were 
needed  to  obtain  all  the  room  that  was  wanted.  The  set- 
tlers who  had  families,  sent  for  them,  and  ultimately  a 
bark  and  a  brigantine  were  bought  from  the  proceeds  of 
the  trade  built  up  by  the  settlers,  besides  the  two  schooners, 
and  on  every  voyage  to  the  islands  these  vessels  were  filled 
with  emigrants,  and  the  cost  of  transportation  was,  so  re- 
duced that  finally  many  persons  were  carried  free  of  charge. 

The  savages  finding  that  they  were  always  well  treated 
by  the  white  people,  soon  became  very  friendly  and  car- 
ried on  quite  an  extensive  barter  with  them,  and  in  many 
ways  were  of  great  use  to  the  colonists. 

It  was  found  that  in  the  vast  area  occupied  by  these 
islands,  extending  as  they  do  nearly  from  the  equator  to  the 
Antarctic  circle,  that  almost  every  climate  was  to  be  found, 
and  almost  every  known  product  of  the  earth  is  no'vv  pro- 
duced there. 

Among  the  things  that  are  now  raised  and  exported  are 
sugar,  coffee,  cotton,  linen,  silks,  woolen  and  woolen  goods, 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  255 

leather,  manilla  cordage,  wines,  cocoanuts,  cocoanut  oil. 
honey  and  bees  wa»x,  indigo,  cochinile,  chocolate,  cigars  and 
tobacco  of  the  finest  manilla  varieties,  sandal  wood,  many 
fine  cabinet  woods  and  lumber,  wood  carvings,  beef,  mutton, 
pork,  bacon,  hams,  poultry  and  eggs,  butter,  cheese,  rice, 
a  very  fine  varnish  made  by  the  savages,  and  many  other 
things,  besides  the  india  rubber  and  cork  trees  have  been 
introduced  and  are  doing  well  and  in  time  will  yield  good 
returns.  Fish,  pearls,  sponges,  mother-of-pearl,  tortoise 
shells,  bech-de-mer,  corrals  and  other  products  of  the  sea 
are  gathered  in  vast  quantities  and  shipped  to  the  markets 
of  the  world. 

Although  it  is  scarcely  ten  years  since  this  movement  set 
in,  the  white  population  is  nearly  a  million  and  a  half,  and 
is  rapidly  increasing  each  year. 

How  was  all  this  accomplished?  First,  by  having  a  well 
defined  plan  of  operations  from  the  beginning.  Then  under 
his  contract  with  all  the  emigrants,  Stonlar  had  secured 
their  services  for  six  years  in  consideration  of  the  agree- 
ment to  provide  each  one  of  them  with  a  certain  amount  of 
improved  land  with  a  house  and  other  specified  things  which 
would  insure  the  prosperity  of  each  one  who  wished  to 
turn  his  opportunities  to  account,  and  which  enabled  them 
to  obtain  a  better  home  than  would  have  been  possible  for 
them  with  so  small  an  outlay  of  money  under  any  other 
circumstances,  and  as  they  saw  tracts  of  land  being  put 
under  cultivation  for  their  use,  and  houses  being  built,  with 
herds  of  cattle,  droves  of  horses,  flocks  of  sheep  and  poultry 
growing  up  around  them,  they  saw  the  most  convincing 
proofs  that  Stonlar  would  be  fully  able  to  keep  all  his  con- 
tracts with  them,  and  they  all  felt  well  satisfied  that  they 
would  never  again  have  cause  to  fear  want  for  themselves 
or  tb*ir  families,  and  as  the  labor  required  of  them  was 


256  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

very  moderate,  they  felt  that  they  were  being  well  repaid 
for  the  time  spent  in  fulfilling  their  contracts,  and  as  all 
worked  for  the  common  good  and  there  were  no  idlers,  their 
work  was  reduced  to  a  minimum,  never  over  six  hours  a 
day. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  combined  effort  placed  Stonlar  in 
control  of  means  far  in  excess  of  anything  that  he  had 
dreamed  of,  and  enabled  him  to  push  on  the  work  of  building 
up  the  colony  with  ever  increasing  rapidity,  until  he  was 
able  to  carry  all  emigrants  free  of  charge  and  provide  them 
with  all  that  they  required.  When  he  reached  this  point  it 
was  no  longer  a  question  of  looking  for  colonists,  for  he  had 
such  great  numbers  of  applicants  that  he  had  only  to  select 
those  who  were  deemed  most  desirable.  In  this  way  he 
selected  skilled  agriculturists  and  mechanics  to  instruct 
the  others  in  the  various  arts.  Thus  all  branches  of  garden- 
ing, fruit  and  wine  raising,  stock  raising,  dairy  work  and 
poultry  raising,  were  taught,  and  improved  methods  were 
applied  to  sugar-making,  coffee  and  cotton  raising,  and  the 
other  branches  suitable  to  the  soil  and  climate. 

Silk  raisers  came  with  cocoons  from  France,  Italy  and 
Japan.  Tanners  were  brought  from  Russia.  France,  Eng- 
land and  Morocco  to  teach  the  making  of  the  finest  leathers. 
Linen  spinners  and  weavers  came  from  France,  Ireland  and 
Holland.  Fruit  raisers  and  wine-makers  from  France,  Italy 
and  Spain  brought  with  them  cuttings  from  the  finest  vines 
that  the  world  produces.  Wood-carvers  and  cabinet  makers 
came  from  Germany,  Switzerland  and  America:  And  so 
all  the  other  branches  of  agriculture  and  industry  were 
developed  with  a  thoroughness  and  rapidity  that  would 
have  been  hopelessly  impossible  under  any  other  system. 

Before  long,  arrangements  were  made  by  which  no  one 
was  permitted  to  enter  the  country  without  having  fur- 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  257 

nished  proper  references  to  reliable  agents,  so  that  very 
few  undesirable  characters  arrived. 

As  the  term  of  six  years  after  the  arrival  of  each  family 
matured,  it  was  regularly  and  promptly  established  in  a  com- 
fortable home  with  all  necessary  buildings,  implements,  do- 
mestic animals,  etc.,  and  having  been  put  through  a  thorough 
course  of  training  for  six  years,  each  one  was  well  able  to 
provide  for  itself  with  comfort  and  plenty,  without  fear 
for  the  future. 

As  the  population  had  increased,  the  little  battalion  had 
been  gradually  developed  into  a  regular  government,  in 
which  Stonlar  showed  much  practical  judgment  by  adopt- 
ing the  best  features  of  all  the  governments  with  which 
he  was  familiar,  and  eliminating  their  weak  points.  He 
succeeded  in  securing  the  strength  of  a  strong  military  gov- 
ernment with  nearly  all  the  personal  freedom  of  a  pure 
democracy.  He  provided  abundantly  for  all  the  expenses 
of  government  without  taxation,  and  secured  to  every  able- 
bodied  citizen  the  means  of  earning  an  honest  livelihood, 
and  an  opportunity  to  the  thrifty  to  accumulate  abundant 
fortunes  for  their  old  age  and  for  their  children.  He  un- 
dertook the  reformation  of  paupers  and  petty  criminals 
without  the  employment  of  prisons  or  reformatories,  and 
he  has  accomplished  all  this. 

In  developing  the  organization  of  the  government,  he  set 
out  with  the  fundamental  principle  that  people  do  not 
know  what  they  have  never  learned;  that  statesmen,  po- 
litical economists  and  diplomats  are  not  to  be  found  ready 
made,  and  that  a  government,  like  every  other  business  in 
life,  to  succeed,  must  be  conducted  upon  business  princi- 
ples. He  therefore  concluded  that  efficiency  in  the  various 
departments  was  only  to  be  acquired  by  study  and  expe- 
rience. So  he  carefully  set  to  work  to  provide  for  the  dif- 


258  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

ferent  departments  of  government  in  the  only  way  that 
could  possibly  succeed  without  the  constant  recurrence  of 
miracles.  That  is,  by  the  training  of  those  who  were  to 
be  entrusted  with  the  different  duties  of  government. 

In  his  selection  of  persons  for  these  responsible  positions 
he  paid  but  little  attention  to  what  might  be  considered 
smartness,  or  even  more  than  ordinary  intelligence,  for  he 
relied  mainly  upon  steadiness  and  fidelity  of  character,  be- 
ing convinced  that  these  qualities,  coupled  with  a  fair 
knowledge  of  the  rudimentary  branches  of  an  ordinary  edu- 
cation, furnished  the  material  which  would  produce  the  best 
results. 

A  conscientious  sense  of  duty  and  good,  old-fashioned 
honesty,  he  looked  upon  as  essential,  for  he  argued  that  a 
man  who  was  untrue  to  his  own  conscience  and  to  his  God 
could  never  be  trusted  to  watch  over  the  interests  of  others. 

For  the  purpose  of  having  all  things  done  with  order  and 
system,  he  established  nine  divisions  for  the  administration 
of  the  government  and  placed  each  under  the  direction  of  a 
minister  of  state. 

The  nine  ministers  are  the  Chancellor  or  Minister  of 
Justice,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  of  Agriculture,  In- 
terior, War,  Marine,  Police,  Communications,  and  Finance. 

The  Chancellor's  duties  are  divided  among  three  depart- 
ments :  First,  the  Department  of  Records,  to  whom  reports 
are  made  from  all  the  divisions  of  the  government,  and  by 
whom  the  archives  of  the  nation  are  made  up.  The  De- 
partment of  Justice  which  constitutes  the  highest  court  of 
appeal.  The  Department  of  Law  under  whose  direction 
notaries,  lawyers  and  judges  are  educated  and  appointed, 
usually  upon  a  regular  system  of  seniority. 

The  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  has  two  departments: 
The  Department  of  Instruction  in  which  applicants  for  the 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  259 

diplomatic  and  consular  service  are  instructed  in  diplomacy, 
international  law  and  commercial  relations;  the  Department 
of  Foreign  Relations  which  constitutes  the  diplomatic  and 
consular  service,  and  through  which  foreign  commerce  and 
immigration  are  regulated. 

The  Minister  of  Agriculture  has  three  departments:  The 
Department  of  Public  Lands,  with  the  Bureau  of  Surveys 
for  the  survey  and  allotment  of  public  lands,  and  the  Bu- 
reau of  Colonization  for  the  cultivation  and  settlement  of 
public  lands,  and  the  instruction  of  settlers  in  agricultural 
pursuits.  The  Department  of  Instruction,  with  the  Bureau 
of  Propagation  for  the  study  and  advancement  of  farm- 
ing, horticulture  and  fruit  raising  in  all  their  branches,  in- 
cluding experimental  stations,  and  the  bureau  of  live  stock 
in  charge  of  the  government  herds,  flocks  and  poultry 
yards,  and  the  propagation  and  improvement  of  the  same. 
This  department  publishes  an  agricultural  gazette  contain- 
ing the  results  of  its  experiments,  and  instructions  upon  all 
matters  under  its  charge.  It  also  directs  the  agricultural 
fairs  throughout  the  realm  and  regularly  publishes  reliable 
information  showing  the  demand  both  home  and  foreign 
for  farm  products  of  all  kinds,  thus  guarding  against  any 
overproduction  or  a  scarcity  in  any  line.  The  Department 
of  Forestry  with  the  Bureau  of  Timber  Culture  for  the 
preservation  and  propogation  of  all  useful  forest  trees,  and 
the  Bureau  of  Natural  History  for  the  preservation  and 
propagation  of  wild  game  and  fresh-water  fish  and  am- 
phibious animals. 

The   Minister  of  the  Interior,  with  four  departments: 

First.  The  Department  of  Instruction  for  the  regula- 
tion of  apprenticeships. 

Second.  The  Department  of  Industry  with  the  Bureau 
of  Registration  for  all  persons  engaged  in  industrial  oocu- 


260  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

pations,  and  the  regulation  of  industrial  organizations,  and 
the  Bureau  of  Information  which  publishes  the  Industrial 
Gazette  containing  full  information  of  the  supply  and 
demand  for  labor  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 

Third.  The  Department  of  Mining  and  Milling,  with 
the  Bureau  of  Mines  for  the  discovery  and  development  of 
mines,  and  the  Bureau  of  Mills  for  the"  discovery  and  de- 
velopment of  water  powers. 

Fourth.  The  Department  of  Water  and  Light,  with  the 
Bureau  of  Water  Supplies  to  provide  water  supplies  for 
public  use,  and  the  Bureau  of  Lights  to  provide  means  for 
furnishing  light  for  public  use. 

The  Minister  of  Communications  with  three  departments: 

First.  The  Department  of  Transportation,  with  the  Bu- 
reau of  Railways,  in  charge  of  city  and  country  railway 
service,  and  the  Department  of  Navigation  for  inland  and 
interstate  navigation  (consisting  of  details  from  the  navy.) 

Second.  The  Department  of  Communications,  with  the 
Bureau  of  Posts  for  the  postal  service,  and  the  Bureau  of 
Telegraphs  for  the  direction  of  the  telegraph  and  telephone 
service. 

The  Minister  of  War  with  three  departments: 

First.  The  Department  of  Instruction,  in  charge  of  the 
Military  Academy,  recruiting  service  and  military  instruc- 
tion of  school  boys. 

Second.  Department  of  Service,  with  Adjutant  General's 
Bureau,  in  charge  of  military  reports,  rosters,  records  and 
military  charts.  Bureau  of  Engineers,  in  charge  of  con- 
struction, inspection  and  repair  of  military  barracks,  forts, 
depots,  roads  and  bridges,  and  of  geographical,  topogra- 
phical, geodedic  and  geological  surveys  and  charts.  Bu- 
reau of  Ordnance ;  for  the  manufacture,  inspection  and  re- 
pair of  ordnance  and  ordnance  supplies,  and  the  direc- 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  261 

tion  of  target  practice.  Quarter-master's  Bureau;  in  charge 
of  military  buildings,  transportation  and  supplies,  except 
ordnance  and  commissary  supplies.  Commissary  Bureau; 
in  charge  of  the  supply  of  subsistance  for  men  and  animals. 
Signal  Bureau;  in  charge  of  military  signal  stations,  heli- 
ographic,  telegraphic  and  signal  communications,  including 
balloon  corps.  Musical  Bureau;  in  charge  of  instruction 
and  direction  of  military  musicians.  Ecclesiastical  Bureau; 
in  charge  of  military  chaplains.  Medical  Bureau ;  in  charge 
of  medical  corps  and  army  hospitals.  Department  of  Re- 
serves;  in  charge  of  the  organization  and  records  of  army 
reserves. 

Minister  of  Marine,  with  four  departments.  Department 
of  Instruction,  in  charge  of  Naval  Academy,  Training 
Ships  and  Recruiting  Service. 

Second.  Department  of  Service;  Bureau  of  Naval  Archi- 
tecture, for  construction,  inspection  and  repair  of  war  and 
naval  reserve  vessels.  Bureau  of  Engineering  and  Naviga- 
tion, in  charge  of  hydrographic  surveys,  meteorological  ob- 
servations and  reports,  and  preparation  of  marine  and  me- 
teorological charts  and  almanacs.  (Other  bureaus  in  the 
Department  of  Service  correspond  with  those  in  the  army.) 

Department  of  Coast  Service;  Bureau  of  Wharves  and 
Warehouses,  in  charge  of  public  wharves  and  warehouses. 
Bureau  of  Coast  Guards,  in  charge  of  light-houses  and  life- 
saving  service.  (Detailed  from  naval  signal  corps.) 

Department  of  Fisheries.  Bureau  of  Propogation,  for  the 
protection  and  propagation  of  sea  fish  and  fowl  and  aquatic 
and  amphibious  game. 

Department  of  Reserves;  in  charge  of  naval  reserves. 

Minister  of  Police;  with  three  departments. 

Department  of  Administration;  Bureau  of  Civil  Service, 
from  which  the  clerical  force  for  the  various  government 


262  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

civil  offices  is  detailed,  also  the  seneschals  of  public  build- 
ings, the  police  patrols,  including  fire  brigades,  alternating 
between  clerical  and  patrol  duty,  and  reporting  to  their 
respective  chiefs.  Bureau  of  Sanitation,  composed  of  phy- 
sicians for  the  care  of  indigent  sick;  in  charge  of  public 
hospitals  other  than  army  and  navy  hospitals,  and  required 
to  make  a  special  study  and  reports  upon  the  causes  and 
prevention  of  contagious  and  epidemic  diseases. 

Department  of  Public  Works ;  Bureau  of  Construction  for 
the  erection,  inspection  and  repair  of  all  public  'buildings 
other  than  army  and  navy  buildings.  Bureau  of  Inspec- 
tion, for  the  inspection  of  all  buildings  as  to  sanitary  con- 
ditions and  public  safety,  both  before  and  after  completion. 

Department  of  Records;  Bureau  of  Accounts,  composed 
of  expert  accountants  for  the  inspection  of  accounts  of  all 
branches  of  public  service.  Bureau  of  Secret  Service;  com- 
posed of  government  detectives. 

Minister  of  Finance ;  with  two  departments.  Department 
of  Currency.  Bureau  of  Coinage,  in  charge  of  mints  and 
issuing  of  treasury  notes.  Bureau  of  Deposits,  in  charge  of 
public  vaults  for  treasurer. 

Department  of  Banking.  Bureau  of  Accounts,  for  bank- 
ing accounts  and  management  of  banks,  all  of  which  belong 
to  the  state.  Bureau  of  Inspection,  for  inspection  of  finan- 
cial accounts  of  all  departments  of  the  government. 

Department  of  Administration.  Bureau  of  Revenues ;  to 
account  for  all  public  revenues.  Bureau  of  Disbursements, 
for  payment  of  public  expenses  upon  vouchers  of  ministers 
of  state  and  orders  of  minister  of  finance. 

Thus  every  department  of  industry  is  fostered  and  en- 
foura<red  by  a  department  of  the  government  organized 
expressly  for  that  purpose,  and  as  admission  to  these  de- 
partments is  only  possible,  after  a  rigid  examination  and  a 


DOWNFALL    OP   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  263 

period  of  probationary  service,  and  promotion  is  made  al- 
most entirely  in  the  order  of  seniority,  all  government  em- 
ployees are  men  of  experience.  In  this  way  the  best  prac- 
tical results  are  obtained,  and  progress  has  been  made 
which  would  have  been  impossible  under  any  other  method. 

Poverty  and  Pauperism  Unknown. 

Long  before  Stonlar  had  ever  seen  his  great  field  of  labor 
he  had  become  convinced  that  poverty  and  pauperism  were 
entirely  unnecessary  for  persons  in  the  vigor  of  life  and 
he  felt  satisfied  that  where  they  existed  the  fault  lay  with 
the  economic  system,  or  rather  want  of  system,  prevailing 
in  the  country  where  such  a  state  of  affairs  was  to  be  found. 
He  also  believed  that  without  expense  to  the  government, 
and  without  infringing  upon  the  rights  of  the  people,  all 
excuse  or  incentive  to  pauperism  could  be  removed. 

In  this,  as  in  everything  else,  he  made  no  experiments, 
but  employed  only  well-tried  methods  which  had  been  thor- 
oughly tested  and  found  successful  in  other  countries.  On 
these  lines  he  set  resolutely  to  work  to  keep  out  poverty 
and  pauperism  from  among  those  who  were  able  \o  work. 

By  means  of  the  Bureau  of  Information,  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  Industry,  under  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  at 
every  place  at  which  there  was  a  market-house  or  a  record 
office,  he  established  a  free  employment  bureau,  where  all 
unemployed  workmen  of  whatever  occupation  they  might 
be,  no  matter  whether  skilled  or  unskilled  workmen,  pro- 
fessional men  or  laborers,  have  the  right  to  have  their  names 
kept  in  registration  books  for  that  purpose,  and  each  one 
so  registered  receives  a  ticket  showing  the  kind  of  employ- 
ment he  wants  and  numbered  so  that  his  application  will  be 
considered  in  its  numerical  order  in  that  line  of  employ- 
ment. 


264  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

As  all  these  offices  make  weekly  reports  which  are  ar- 
ranged alphabetically  by  the  Department  of  Industry,  and 
distributed  in  the  form  of  an  Industrial  Gazette  among  the 
different  registration  offices  from  which  the  material  for 
these  reports  was  received,  anyone  in  search  of  employment, 
by  reference  to  the  last  report,  can  see  almost  at  a  glance, 
what  is  the  prospect  of  obtaining  work  in  any  part  of 
the  country.  And  as  all  these  offices  are  in  constant  com- 
munication with  each  other,  applications  for  work  are 
quickly  transmitted  from  one  office  to  another,  thus  secur- 
ing employment  for  the  unemployed,  wherever  and  when- 
ever it  can  be  found.  On  the  other  hand,  as  all  those  in  need 
of  employees  find  these  registration  offices  the  quickest  and 
easiest  channels  through  which  to  obtain  workmen  of  every 
occupation,  they  use  them  constantly,  and  so  both  employ- 
ers and  employees  always  know  how  to  find  each  other  with 
the  least  possible  trouble  and  delay.  Consequently  positions 
do  not  remain  unfilled  for  want  of  workmen,  and  workmen 
are  not  idle  because  they  cannot  find  the  places  to  be  filled. 

For  those  without  regular  employment  work  is  pro- 
vided on  unoccupied  government  lands  under  the  same 
plan  adopted  in  the  first  settlement  of  the  country.  That  is, 
by  working  for  six  years  for  the  government,  upon  govern- 
ment lands,  they  earn  homes  for  themselves,  without  having 
any  money  to  begin  with,  besides  securing  their  maintain- 
ance  in  the  meantime,  in  addition  to  a  thorough  instruction 
in  the  best  methods  of  agricultural  work,  thus  securing  a  per- 
manent means  of  livelihood  and  constantly  increasing  com- 
forts. 

In  this  way  all  those  who  are  willing  and  able  to  work 
have  an  opportunity  to  do  so,  either  in  the  country  or  the 
towns,  and  although  it  costs  the  workman  no  money  to  se- 
cure a  home  in  the  country,  it  is  always  found  that  the  gov- 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  265 

eminent  has  been  more  than  reimbursed  for  its  outlay,  by  the 
returns  from  the  work  done  by  those  thus  employed. 

Professional  paupers  and  criminals  are  disposed  of  in  an 
equally  successful  manner.  Any  able  bodied  man  or  woman 
who  becomes  a  charge  upon  the  community,  or  attempts  to 
live  by  begging  or  other  dishonest  means,  is  at  once  arrest- 
ed and  sentenced  to  a  term  of  penal  servitude  upon  a  gov- 
ernment farm,  and  for  each  repetition  of  the  offense  the  time 
of  servitude  is  increased,  so  that  the  offender  is  soon  forced 
to  realize  that  it  is  much  better  to  take  advantage  of  the 
opportunity  offered  to  earn  a  home  by  honest  labor  than  to 
undergo  the  same  labor  in  serving  a  succession  of  penal 
sentences,  with  nothing  to  show  for  it.  Such  persons  almost 
always  reform  ultimately,  as  it  is  about  the  only  course  open 
to  them,  for  withouj;  means  they  cannot  well  leave  the 
islands  and  it  is  not  the  policy  of  the  government  to  unload 
its  undesirable  subjects  upon  other  nations. 

Penal  servitude  upon  the  soil,  in  the  fresh  air  of  heaven, 
has  many  advantages  over  a  system  of  incarceration  in  jails, 
workhouses  and  reformatories.  In  the  first  place  instead  of 
degrading  offenders,  as  prison  life  does,  it  has  exactly  the 
opposite  effect  and  tends  to  raise  their  moral  tone,  and  build 
them  up  mentally  and  physically  and  render  them  better  fit- 
ted for  honest  employment.  Moreover,  as  each  convict  eas- 
ily earns  his  own  maintainence  by  his  labor  on  the  soil, 
the  government  incurs  no  expense  to  support  them.  As  a 
means  of  reformation  it  is  found  to  be  a  great  success. 

For  the  aged  poor,  the  infirm  and  cripples,  ample  provis- 
ion is  made  in  the  institutions  of  public  charity  of  which 
there  are  plenty  of  all  kinds  under  the  general  direction  of 
the  Grand  Almoner  whose  position  is  really  that  of  a  quasi 
cabinet  minister,  and  whose  duty  it  is  to  make  a  constant 
study  of  public  charities  and  the  best  methods  of  providing 


266  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

for  the  dependent  members  of  the  community.  Pensions 
are  also  paid  to  all  persons  over  60  years  old,  in  proportion 
to  their  previous  earning  capacity,  the  government  thus  in- 
suring everybody. 

The  strictness  of  the  imigration  laws  and  the  examinations 
which  all  intending  emigrants  must  undergo,  and  the  refer- 
ences that  are  required  from  them,  make  it  difficult  for 
undesirable  characters  to  get  into  the  country. 

Under  the  complete  system  of  development  intelligently 
aided  and  fostered  by  the  different  branches  of  the  govern- 
ment every  department  of  agriculture  and  industry  has  ad- 
vanced with  great  strides.  The  minister  of  agriculture, 
through  his  various  departments,  has  built  up  almost  every 
kind  of  agriculture,  fruit  raising,  wine  making,  dairying, 
live  stock  and  poultry  raising.  The  vast  range  of  climate  to 
be  found  within  the  extended  area  of  the  empire  has  allowed 
of  the  introduction  of  almost  every  variety  of  natural  pro- 
ducts. Olive  trees,  the  cork  and  rubber  tree,  figs,  dates, 
tamarinds,  and  almost  the  entire  range  of  fruit  and  nut  bear- 
ing trees  have  been  established  in  suitable  soil  and  climate. 

Under  the  department  of  forestry  the  natural  forests  have 
been  so  protected  and  managed  as  to  yield  a  regular  and 
permanent  revenue.  The  Bureau  of  Natural  History  has  in- 
troduced deer  and  other  suitable  animals  to  multiply  in  the 
forests,  and  the  naval  department  of  Fisheries  has  found 
great  quantities  of  mollusks,  fishes,  turtles,  and  on  some  of 
the  islands,  down-bearing  sea  fowl,  which  have  been  care- 
fully protected,  and  where  needed,  propagated,  by  the  most 
scientific  methods. 

The  Minister  of  the  Interior  has  caused  geological  surveys 
to  be  made  on  such  an  extended  scale  that  on  some  of  the 
islands  copper,  gold  and  other  metals  have  been  found  and 
produced  with  good  results. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  267 

Where  private  individuals  discover  mines  and  report  them 
to  the  government,  and  they  prove  to  be  worth  working, 
the  finder  is  allowed  a  portion  of  the  profits  as  a  reward  for 
the  discovery,  and  to  encourage  others  to  find  new  mines. 
In  this  way  a  number  of  mines  are  now  paying  well  which 
must  have  remained  idle  for  want  of  means  to  develop  them, 
if  the  government  had  not  taken  them  up. 

A  number  of  fine  water  powers  have  been  located  by  the 
government  engineers  and  are  now  being  used  for  milling 
and  other  purposes,  thus  aiding  materially  in  the  mining  and 
other  industries,  all  of  which  tends  to  make  new  openings 
for  labor  so  that  the  demand  is  always  rather  ahead  of  the 
supply,  and  so  prosperity  reigns  among  the  industrial  work- 
ed, and  as  postal  savings  banks  exist  wherever  there  are 
postoffices,  the  people  can  save  their  earnings  without  fear  of 
loss. 

No  Taxes  or  Debts. 

No  taxes  are  collected.  The  public  revenues  are  derived 
from  the  railway  carrying  service  in  city  and  country,  from 
the  telegraph  and  telephone  lines,  from  tolls  and  rents  from 
mills,  markets,  fairs,  wharves  and  warehouses,  water  and 
lighting  systems,  the  banks,  water  powers,  mines,  govern- 
ment farms,  flocks  and  herds,  vineyards  and  orchards,  etc., 
which  amply  provide  for  all  expenses  of  government  and 
necessary  public  works,  besides  enabling  the  government  to 
give  employment  to  large  numbers  of  persons  who  otherwise 
would  often  find  it  hard  to  secure  work. 

As  all  the  business  of  the  government  is  conducted  upon 
a  well  defined  system  of  civil  service  regulations-,  with  regu- 
lar promotions  in  the  order  of  seniority,  there  is  no  un- 
certainty about  the  employment  of  those  who  enter  the  pub- 
lic service,  and  as  full  provision  is  made  for  pensions  for 


268  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

those  who  have  faithfully  served  during  a  definite  period  of 
time,  and  for  their  families  in  ease  of  death,  no  anxiety  for 
the  future  is  felt  and  all  public  servants  find  it  to  their 
interest  to  be  honest  and  faithful,  -knowing  full  well  that  the 
only  serious  danger  of  losing  their  employment  is  by  dis- 
honesty or  unfaithfulness  to  duty. 

Moreover,  as  all  promotions  are  preceded  by  examinations 
as  to  fitness  of  the  candidate  for  advancement,  every  public 
servant  feels  bound  to  render  himself  competent  to  fulfill 
the  duties  of  his  calling;  in  this  way  the  highest  possible 
inducements  are  offered  for  honesty  and  efficiency  in  the 
service  of  the  state,  and  the  result  has  been  eminently  satis- 
factory. 

As  no  laws  exist  for  the  collection  of  debts  incurred  in 
the  transaction  of  any  business  that  could  have  been  conduct- 
ed upon  a  cash  basis,  few  debts  are  incurred  and  business 
failures  are  unknown. 

A  peculiar  statute  of  limitations  is  in  force  under  which 
all  debts  expire  by  limitation  on  the  last  day  of  every  tenth 
year  according  to  the  Gregorian  calendar,  and  no  conveyance 
of  land  or  mortgage  or  lease  is  valid  after  the  last  day  of  the 
next  even  tenth  year.  These  years  are  called  the  years  of 
Jubilee,  and  on  the  first  day  thereof  all  lands  conveyed  re- 
vert to  the  original  grantor  or  his  heirs  at  law.  Mortgages 
are  made  by  the  delivery  of  the  pledged  property  to  the 
creditor  who  retains  possession  until  the  income  of  the 
property  has  paid  the  debt,  without  interest,  or  the  debt  has 
expired  by  the  beginning  of  the  year  of  Jubilee,  when  the 
original  owner  or  his  heirs  at  law  recover  possession.  In 
this  way  all  are  protected  in  the  ownership  of  their  homes, 
and  even  their  own  indescretion  can  not  cause  them  to  lose 
their  homes  permanently. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  269 

A  complete  system  of  postal  savings  banks  is  maintained 
which  affords  absolute  security  in  the  accumulation  of  sav- 
ings. 

All  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  practice  of  banking 
know  that  the  use  of  bank  checks  results  in  a  practical  ex- 
pansion of  the  currency,  for  the  reason  that  by  the  use  of 
checks  the  same  money  on  deposit  may  be  used  many  times 
over  for  business  purposes  without  withdrawing  the  cash, 
by  merely  transferring  the  accounts  from  one  person  to  an- 
other, and  thus  there  is  always  plenty  of  money  for  the 
requirements  of  trade. 

All  the  banks  are  conducted  directly  by  the  government 
so  that  a  successful  run  on  any  of  them  is  impossible.  More- 
over, all  the  coin  of  the  country  being  practically  on  deposit 
in  the  banks,  the  government  has  been  enabled  to  issue  treas- 
ury notes  equal  in  amount  to  all  the  coin  in  the  country,  and 
these  notes  are  always  redeemable  in  gold  or  silver  coin  at 
the  option  of  the  government. 

Nearly  all  civilized  nations  have  laws  against  the  mutila- 
tion or  destruction  of  the  coin  of  the  realm.  Stonlar  did  bet- 
ter than  this.  Realizing  that  the  only  legitimate  use  for 
money  is  as  a  medium  of  exchange  to  facilitate  the  exchange 
of  articles  of  commercial  value,  and  that  nothing  can  so  com- 
pletely paralyze  trade  and  industry  as  the  hoarding  of 
money  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  and  its  consequent  withdrawal 
from  circulation,  he  made  a  law  making  it  a  felony  to  hoard 
money  outside  of  the  banks,  and  as  a  penalty  for  a  violation 
of  this  law  he  imposed  the  confiscation  of  the  money  so 
hoarded  and  the  condemnation  of  the  offender  to  penal  serv- 
itude. As  money  is  known  to  be  absolutely  safe  in  the  gov- 
ernment banks,  the  effect  of  this  law  is  to  keep  all  the  money 
of  the  country  constantly  in  the  banks,  available  for  circu- 
lation in  the  ordinary  course  of  business. 


270  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

He  imposed  a  similar  penalty  on  those  who  try  to  ship 
money  out  of  the  country,  although  there  is  no  restriction  up- 
on the  use  of  money  to  buy  foreign  bills  of  exchange  founded 
upon  exports,  therefore  no  obstacle  is  placed  in  the  way  of 
foreign  commerce. 

The  natural  operation  of  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  is 
protected  from  the  interference  of  gamblers  and  speculators 
by  a  law  forbidding  the  accumulation  of  any  of  the  staple 
commodities  of  daily  consumption  beyond  a  reasonable  sup- 
ply for  actual  use,  or  the  requirements  of  trade,  and  this  is 
so  regulated  as  not  to  interfere  with  legitimate  trade,  but  it 
shuts  off  middlemen,  and  is  enforced  by  severe  penalties.^ 
This  is  fatal  to  dealers  in  margins  and  futures  and  a  corner 
on  the  market,  in  any  staple  article  of  use,  is  impossible. 
It  also  enables  the  producer  or  maker  to  obtain  the  best  re- 
turns for  his  labor  without  having  to  divide  with  middle- 
men. On  the  other  hand  the  consumer  is  saved  the  profits 
that  he  has  to  pay  to  middlemen  under  other  systems. 

The  effect  of  this  law  is  to  shut  out  foreign  competition 
in  those  articles  that  can  be  advantageously  produced  at 
home.  This,  however,  is  controlled  by  treaties,  the  surplus 
products  of  the  country  being  disposed  of  to  those  nations 
which  can  in  return  bring  in  those  things  which  are  most 
needed,  which  are  admitted  free  of  duty  where  a  similar 
concession  can  be  obtained  from  the  foreign  countries  in 
favor  of  exports  from  the  islands.. 

There  is  no  restriction  upon  exports  except  as  to  those 
staple  articles  of  which  it  is  known  that  no  surplus  is  pro- 
duced beyond  what  is  required  for  home  consumption,  and 
upon  these  an  embargo  is  placed  to  prevent  the  possibility  of 
distress  at  home  from  an  undue, depletion  of  any  of  the  nec- 
essaries of  life. 


DOWNFALL    OP   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  271 

The  reader  may  wonder  what  occupations  are  left  for  pri- 
vate enterprise  if  so  many  industries  are  controlled  by  the 
government.  First  it  should  be  remarked  that  in  all  the  in- 
dustries controlled  by  the  government  the  same  openings  ex- 
ist that  there  would  be  if  they  were  not  controlled  by  the 
government,  the"  principle  difference  being  that  employment, 
compensation  and  advancement  are  far  more  certain  and 
satisfactory  than  they  could  be  under  any  other  conditions 
with  private  ownership. 

It  may  be  added  that  the  following  avocations  are  open 
to  all  who  can  qualify  themselves  for  them,  and  that  the 
opportunities  for  advancement  in  them  are  unsurpassed  in 
«ii  iy  other  part  of  the  world. 

The  learned  professions ;  Divinity,  Law  and  Medicine. 

The  sciences;  Philosophy,  History,  Mathematics,  Philology 
and  Languages.  Logic,  under  which  are  classed  rhetoric 
grammar  and  elocution. 

The  natural  sciences;  Geography,  Astronomy,  Geology, 
Botany,  Natural  History,  Chemistry,  Natural  Philosophy, 
Mineralogy. 

The  fundamental  arts ;  Political  Economy,  Diplomacy. 

The  fine  arts;  Music,  Poetry,  Painting,  Sculpture,  the 
Drama. 

The  professional  arts;  Engineering,  Architecture,  Naviga- 
tion, War. 

The  industrial  arts;  Agriculture,  Commerce,  and  all  the 
mechanical  arts. 

To  all  of  these  the  government  gives  much  encouragement 
and  assistance,  and  offers  rewards  in  cases  of  special  merit. 
Yet  it  is  not  its  policy  to  encourage  or  countenance  in- 
competence and  consequent  imposition  upon  the  public,  and 
therefore,  following  the  experience  and  practice  of  all  the 
older  nations  of  the  world,  instead  of  the  experimental  prac- 


272  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

tice  of  the  younger  ones,  a  strict  system  of  apprenticeships 
is  enforced  in  all  of  these  callings.  Moreover  every  article 
sold  must  be  plainly  labeled  with  the  name  of  the  producer 
or  maker  and  a  true  statement  of  the  quality  and  quantity 
of  the  article,  and  a  violation  of  this  law  is  punished  in  the 
most  severe  manner. 

The  effect  of  these  laws  is  to  give  a  stability  to  the  com- 
mercial and  industrial  interests  of  the  country  that  can 
hardly  be  surpassed,  and  to  reduce  to  a  minimum  the  dis- 
appointments, confusion  and  failures  that  are  so  common  in 
some  countries  and  to  diffuse  prosperity  and  contentment 
as  generally  as  seems  possible  in  any  human  commonwealth. 

The  maintainence  of  Guilds  for  the  various  crafts  of  work- 
men for  the  sake  of  their  mutual  benevolent  and  protective 
features  is  aided  and  encouraged  by  the  government,  but 
under  no  circumstances  are  they  permitted  to  interfere, 
either  collectively  or  individually,  with  the  freedom  of  con- 
tract between  employer  and  employees,  or  with  workmen  who 
do  not  belong  to  their  orders.  On  the  other  hand  the  govern- 
ment compels  both  employers  and  employees  to  live  up  to 
their  contracts  which  must  always  be  in  writing  executed  be- 
fore a  notary  public,  in  triplicate,  one  copy  being  retained  by 
each  party  and  a  third  filed  away  numerically  and  alphabet- 
ically by  the  notary.  Moreover,  a  minimum  living  wage  is 
fixed  by  law,  and  a  contract  to  work  for  less  than  that 
amount  is  void,  leaving  the  workman  the  right  to  collect  the 
minimum  wage  from  his  employer  with  damages  if  he  has 
been  imposed  upon. 

Army  and  Navy. 

All  citizens  are  required  to  be  enrolled  in  the  army  or  navy, 
and  to  receive  a  training  which  will  fit  them  to  take  part  in 
the  defense  of  the  country  in  time  of  need.  This  training 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  273 

is  begun  with  the  boys  at  school;  every  boy  over  twelve 
years  of  'age  being  enrolled  in  what  is  called  the  cadet 
corps,  and  they  are  all  instructed  both  theoretically  and 
practically  in  the  drill  and  tactics  of  detail  with  sufficient 
thoroughness  to  familiarize  them  with  the  principles  of 
organization  and  the  primary  maneuvers  of  troops  in  active 
service.  They  have  a  regular  system  of  promotion  among 
them  with  well  known  rewards  and  punishments,  and  they 
feel  as  much  interest  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  service  as 
if  they  were  regular  troops,  and  thus  an  excellent  foundation 
is  laid  for  their  future  military  training. 

The  regular  army  amounts  to  250,000  men,  well  trained 
and  ready  for  active  service,  with  an  organization  and  sys- 
tem of  communications  so  complete  that  in  less  than  six  hours 
they  can  be  got  under  arms.  This  is  due  partly  to  the  numer- 
ous heliographic  and  other  signal  stations,  and  partly  to 
telegraphic  and  telephonic  communications,  for  all  of  these 
were  introduced  early  in  the  development  of  the  country. 

The  organization  and  discipline  of  the  army  provide  for 
the  utmost  available  strength  at  the  least  practicable  ex- 
pense. All  of  the  troops  are  required  to  muster  each  week 
in  their  respective  districts  for  a  couple  of  hours'  training, 
and  to  enable  the  officers  to  keep  informed  of  the  where- 
abouts of  the  members  of  their  commands.  Once  a  month  all 
regular  troops  are  required  to  spend  a  half  day  in  training. 
In  addition  to  this  they  all  spend  a  half  a  month  each  year  in 
active  service.  The  army  is  divided  into  twenty-four  reliefs 
who  serve  successively  for  a  half  a  month  each.  In  this  way 
all  regular  troops  have  a  weekly  drill,  twelve  half  days  and 
two  full  weeks  of  service  and  training  each  year,  making 
twenty-seven  days  in  all,  besides  the  weekly  drills,  yet  at  no 
time  is  more  than  one  twenty-fourth  part  of  the  army  main- 
tained at  the  public  expense. 


274  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

Besides  this,  as  many  of  the  ordnance,  engineer  and 
artillery  officers  as  possible  are  detailed  to  take  charge  of 
public  works,  such  as  the  construction  of  military  build- 
ings, roads,  bridges,  etc.,  so  as  to  keep  them  in  touch  with 
their  profession.  By  this  means  a  large  number  of  com- 
missioned officers  of  the  higher  grades  are  kept  employed 
by  the  government  within  the  scope  of  their  calling. 

The  government  arsenals  and  gun  foundries  have  been  so 
far  completed  that  nearly  all  the  artillery,  small  arms  and 
ammunition  required  are  now  made  in  the  country. 

Roads  and  Bridges. 

Many  of  the  roads  would  be  a  credit  to  any  country  in 
the  world,  and  a  most  sensible  Jaw  is  in  force  which  causes 
every  wagon  going  over  a  road,  instead  of  wearing  it  away, 
to  actually  contribute  towards  the  improvement  of  the 
road.  The  plan  is  most  simple.  The  width  of  the  tires  of 
wagon  wheels  is  regulated  by  law,  varying  according  to  the 
carrying  capacity  of  the  wagon.  The  lightest  conveyances 
are  required  to  have  tires  at  least  one  inch  and  a  half  wide, 
and  the  tires  of  the  wheels  of  the  heaviest  wagons  are  at 
least  nine  inches  wide.  Besides  preventing  the  wheels  from 
getting  lodged  in  the  ground  where  it  is  soft,  thus  saving 
a  great  amount  of  wear  and  tear  upon  the  draft  animals, 
these  wide  tires  act  as  rollers  and  pack  and  level  the  road- 
ways like  road  rollers,  which  in  fact  they  are.  Moreover, 
one  axle  of  heavy  wagons  is  required  to  be  as  much  longer 
than  the  other  axle  as  the  width  of  two  of  the  tires.  So  if 
the  tires  be  nine  inches  wide,  one  axle  must  be  eighteen 
inches  longer  than  the  other,  making  the  four  wheels  have 
the  effect  of  two  eighteen-inch  rollers  passing  over  the  road 
side  by  side  in  rear  of  the  feet  of  the  draft  animals.  This 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  275 

reduces  the  labor  and  expense  of  repairs  on  the  roads  to  a 
minimum. 

The  bridges  and  causeways  are  all  constructed  under  the 
direction  of  army  engineers,  and  are  nearly  all  built  of 
stone  or  concrete  which  gives  them  a  solidity  and  perma- 
nence not  to  be  obtained  in  any  other  way. 

A  large  and  constantly  increasing  proportion  of  the  army 
is  mounted  men,  armed  with  rifles,  revolvers,  sabres  and 
lances.  This  gives  them  a  celerity  of  movement  which 
would  enable  them  to  completely  out-maneuvre  any  body 
of  dismounted  or  mixed  troops,  even  of  a  much  greater 
numerical  force,  and  as  they  are  all  taught  to  fight  either 
mounted  or  on  foot,  they  would  be  a  most  formidable  force 
to  meet  any  enemy  differently  organized. 

The  army  reserves  consist  of  all  those  who  have  served 
a  certain  number  of  years  in  the  army,  and  they  are  all 
enrolled  and  subject  to  call  in  case  of  emergency. 

The  navy  consists  of  all  seamen  fit  for  active  service,  all 
of  whom  are  enrolled,  regularly  organized,  and  required  to 
report  at  stated  times  when  in  port.  As  far  as  circum- 
stances permit  they  are  subject  to  training  on  a  plan  very 
similar  to  that  for  the  land  forces. 

The  equipment  of  the  navy  is  remarkably  inexpensive  and 
yet  highly  efficient.  The  vessels  consist  of  nearly  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  small  torpedo  boats  with  powerful  rams,  tor- 
pedo tubes,  a  couple  of  dynamite  guns  and  some  rapid-fire 
guns  each. 

A  Tsery  high  rate  of  speed  has  been  the  great  diseratum  in 
these  vessels,  and  it  has  been  so  successfully  met  that  it  is 
believed  that  they  will  outrun  almost  all  other  vessels  afloat. 
All  are  made  to  run  either  upon  or  under  the  surface  of 
the  water,  so  that  in  approaching  a  ship  for  attack  they 
can  keep  out  of  fire  until  within  a  few  fathoms  of  the 


276  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

vessel  to  be  attacked,  and  after  delivering  their  fire,  dis- 
charging their  torpedoes,  or  ramming  the  hostile  vessel,  they 
can  sink  out  of  sight  and  out  6f  danger.  In  form  they  are 
cigar-shaped  and  so  suberbly  armoured  that  lying  low  in 
the  water  as  they  do  when  at  the  surface,  and  being  so 
small  in  size,  and  with  so  high  a  rate  of  speed,  they  incur 
the  least  possible  risk  of  being  hit  by  the  enemy's  shots. 
It  is  confidently  believed  that  they  are  more  than  a  match 
for  three  or  four  times  their  number  of  the  most  powerful 
battleships.  Their  light  draft  also  gives  them  an  immense 
advantage  enabling  them  to  dodge  about  among  shoals  and 
reefs  where  larger  vessels  cannot  go.  In  fact  it  is  believed 
that  for  a  fleet,  even  of  the  finest  battleships,  to  attack  these 
rapid,  little,  darting,  disappearing,  yet  formidable  torpedo 
boats  would  be  like  a  herd  of  elephants  battling  with  a 
swarm  of  bees,  and  that  the  little  fellows  would  soon  worst 
their  more  bulky  adversaries. 

One  great  advantage  of  this  navy  is  that  the  entire  fleet 
scarcely  cost  more  than  one-tenth  that  number  of  battle- 
ships, yet  it  certainly  looks  as  if  one  of  these  little  fellows, 
with  but  little  risk  to  itself,  could  single  handed,  destroy  a 
number  of  the  large  ones.  Another  advantage  is,  that  in 
case  of  the  destruction  of  one  of  these  vessels  not  more 
than  fifteen  or  twenty  men  would  lose  their  lives,  instead 
of  hundreds,  as  would  be  the  case  in  the  event  of  the  sink- 
ing of  a  battleship. 

For  defensive  purposes,  for  which  they  are  intended,  they 
appear  to  be  unequalled,  and  as  they  are  perfectly  sea- 
worthy they  can  be  moved  rapidly  from  one  place  to 
another. 

The  foreign  commerce  of  the  islands  having  been  hereto- 
fore conducted  through  the  medium  of  various  groups  of 
islands  that  are  more  or  less  known  to  the  outside  world, 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  277 

the  existence  of  this  new,  and  rapidly  growing  island  em- 
pire has  scarcely  been  suspected  by  most  of  the  world. 
And  when  occasionally  some  one  would  bring  stories  of  a 
white  kingdom  among  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  they  hardly 
attracted  a  moment's  attention. 

In  the  meantime  by  wise  measures  and  a  close  attention 
to  economic  laws,  successfully  tested  by  the  older  nations  of 
the  world,  a  power  has  been  quietly  built  up  which  may 
well  arouse  the  envy  and  even  the  fear  of  some  of  the  great 
commercial  nations  of  the  world  who  will  soon  have  to  take 
into  account  the  active  and  thrifty  Island  Empire  of  the 
Pacific. 

Political  System. 

The  political  system  is  founded  upon  the  principal  that 
to  secure  good  government  it  is  necessary  first  to  offer 
every  assistance  to  public  servants  to  render  themselves 
capable  by  affording  them  a  proper  training  in  the  branch 
of  the  service  to  which  they  are  called.  Second;  to  insure 
faithful  service  as  far  as  possible,  by  making  it  to  the  in- 
terest of  officials  to  be  honest.  Third ;  by  selecting  persons 
with  untarnished  reputations  for  upright  lives. 

It  is  also  considered  that  one  who  has  honorably  filled  a 
position  of  trust  under  the  government  is  most  competent 
to  judge  of  the  fitness  of  those  who  are  to  fill  similar  posi- 
tions. Consequently  the  manner  of  selection  is  as  follows: 
Each  official  nominates  his  subordinates,  and  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable they  are  advanced  upon  a  regular  system  of  promo- 
tion according  to  seniority.  Before  anyone  can  be  con- 
firmed in  any  position  of  public  trust,  or  be  advanced  to  a 
higher  grade  in  the  service,  his  name  must  be  published 
thirty  days  for  local  officials,  and  ninety  days  for  national 
officials.  If  any  serious  charges  are  made  against  the  nom- 


278  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

inee,  which  appear  to  be  well  founded,  or  anything  like  a 
public  outcry  is  made  against  him,  his  name  must  be 
dropped,  unless  he  can  clear  himself  of  the  charges. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  is  indeed  a  severe  test,  and  that 
one  who  can  successfully  pass  it  must  be  a  person  of  ex- 
cellent reputation.  If  the  test  is  passed,  the  nominee  is 
appointed,  but  always  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  head 
of  the  department  or  bureau  to  which  he  is  appointed,  who, 
for  cause  stated,  may  annul  the  appointment.  This  order 
is  never  departed  from,  unless  some  manifest  injustice  is 
shown  to  have  been  done  to  the  nominee. 

When  an  appointment  to  the  public  service  has  finally 
been  confirmed,  the  appointee  is  held  to  the  highest  degree 
of  responsibility,  and  he  is  strictly  accountable  for  the  due 
discharge  of  his  duties  and  for  the  conduct  of  his  subor- 
dinates. 

It  may  be  asked  whether  there  is  not  an  opportunity  for 
the  abuse  of  power.  Certainly  there  is,  just  as  there  is  in 
every  human  institution.  But  it  is  confidently  asserted  that 
no  plan  can  be  devised  under  which  there  are  greater 
safeguards  against  it  than  this  one. 

The  judicial  system  is  conducted  upon  the  same  general 
lines  as  the  other  divisions  of  the  government.  In  one 
particular  it  differs  from  many  others.  In  all  legal  pro- 
ceedings great  promptitude  of  action  is  required;  but  es- 
pecially in  criminal  cases.  The  prosecutors  are  required 
to  have  their  evidence  ready  at  once  when  an  arrest  is 
made,  and  the  keeping  of  anyone  charged  with  crime  in 
custody,  deprived  of  his  liberty,  while  awaiting  his  trial, 
is  almost  unheard  of. 

As  the  credit  system  does  not  prevail  the  principal  cause 
of  litigation  in  other  countries  does  not  exist  here,  conse- 
quently the  whole  judicial  fabric  is  reduced  to  the  greatest 


DOWNFALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  279 

simplicity,  precedents  are  but  little  relied  upon,  and  as  far 
as  possible  all  causes  are  decided  according  to  recognized 
principles  and  great  axioms  of  justice. 

Life  in  the  Islands. 

As  so  little  time  is  required  for  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil  and  the  expense  of  living  is  so  small,  that  even  for 
those  engaged  in  other  industries  than  agriculture,  only  a 
portion  of  each  day  is  devoted  to  labor,  much  time  is  left 
for  amusement.  The  fact  that  the  country  consists  of 
islands,  many  of  them  small,  and  the  soft  warmth  of  the 
temperature,  make  bathing  a  most  popular  pastime,  and  it 
is  not  uncommon  to  see  ten  or  fifteen  hundred  persons  of 
all  ages  swimming  in  the  surf.  What  a  sight  this  is,  and 
how  it  would  surprise  the  great,  toiling  masses  of  the  poor 
in  our  great  American  cities  to  see,  practically  the  entire 
population  of  one  of  these  island  towns,  turn  out  in  the 
middle  of  the  afternoon  to  have  a  grand  swim.  The  shouts 
and  ringing  laughter,  and  the  swish  and  roar  of  the  waves, 
fairly  alive  with  merry  human  beings,  would  seem  like  a 
vision  of  another  world  to  those  who  have  never  seen  any- 
thing but  the  drudgery  of  a  large  city  with  rarely  a  holiday 
of  any  kind. 

Many  horses  have  been  introduced  into  the  islands,  and  as 
it  costs  practically  nothing  to  keep  them,  every  man,  woman 
and  child  appears  to  own  at  least  one,  and  they  all  seem  to 
ride. 

By  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  workshops  and  places 
of  business  are  about  all  closed,  and  then  comes  the  grand, 
rollicking  swim  in  the  waves,  after  which  it  looks  as  if  the 
entire  population  were  on  horseback,  and  away  they  go, 
riding  in  all  directions,  as  free  as  the  fresh  sea  air  that  they 


280  STARTLING   STATEMENTS 

breathe,  and  trouble  and  care  seem  to  be  utter  strangers 
there. 

The  athletic  games  in  which  all  join  are  most  interesting 
and  their  feats  of  horsemanship  would  amaze  people  from 
other  countries.  A  favorite  amusement  is  to  stand  a  dozen 
or  more  horses  in  a  row  about  twenty  yards  apart  and  then 
for  the  whole  party  to  dash  along  at  full  speed,  leaping 
their  horses  successively  over  the  entire  row.  In  fact  it  is 
a  kind  of  a  game  of  leap-frog  on  horseback. 

As  to  dancing,  they  all  dance  as  if  they  had  springs  in 
their  heels.  Many  of  the  dances  have  been  learned  from 
the  natives  and  involve  a  great  amount  of  running  and 
physical  exercise,  what  is  called  the  dance  of  the  athletes 
being  in  fact  in  the  nature  of  a  sham  battle,  in  which  sticks 
or  clubs  are  used,  all  movements  being  made  in  perfect 
unison,  while  the  spectators  sing  in  chorus.  The  singing 
is  really  fine  as  the  natives  are  natural  musicians,  and  there 
are  many  popular  songs  well  known  io  everyone,  and  the 
people  take  great  pride  in  their  music. 

Their  military  parades  and  reviews  are  quite  imposing, 
and  they  delight  in  them.  The  uniforms  for  fatigue  or 
service  use  are  very  simple,  those  of  the  natives  being  lit- 
tle more  than  a  brown  or  blue  tunic,  without  sleeves,  reach- 
ing from  the  neck  to  the  knees, .  but  most  comfortable  for 
active  service.  The  natives  wear  neither  shoes  nor  hats, 
and  they  are  certainly  light  infantry,  or  cavalry  as  the  case 
may  be,  having  no  incumbrances  but  their  rifles,  cartridge 
belts  and  equipments.  The  dress  uniforms,  however,  are 
quite  brilliant  and  make  a  fine  appearance.  The  best  way 
to  give  an  idea  of  the  uniforms  and  gala  dress  of  the  peo- 
ple is  to  describe  a  military  and  industrial  review  which 
recently  took  place. 


DOWNFALL    OP   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  281 

It  was  shortly  after  the  harvest.  The  weather  was  clear 
and  fine,  and  the  place  selected  for  the  superb  spectacle 
was  a  plain  sloping  gently  from  a  chain  of  mountains  to 
the  sea.  To  the  south  and  east  the  rugged  mountain  rocks 
and  peaks  made  a  most  wild  and  picturesque  background. 
To  the  north  and  northwest  the  blue  waves  of  the  Pacific 
ocean  washed  the  shore  and  left  a  long,  wavering  line  of 
white  foam  upon  the  beach.  Beginning  at  the  water's  edge 
and  running  back  a  couple  of  miles  lay  the  principal  town, 
with  cheerful,  homelike  houses,  with  spacious  verandas, 
and  surrounded  by  green  lawns  and  vines  and  flowering 
plants  and  gardens,  all  intersected  by  clean,  regular,  well 
kept  streets. 

Near  the  center  of  the  town,  about  the  middle  of  the 
principle  street,  which  is  over  two  hundred  feet  wide,  and 
fringed  with  fine  shade  trees  and  beautiful  shrubs,  stands 
the  palace  or  government  building,  in  which  Stonlar  lives 
with  his  wife  and  little  ones,  and  which  serves  also  as  the 
executive  mansion,  in  which  much  of  the  business  of  the 
government  is  transacted.  It  is  a  handsome  stone  building 
of  three  stories,  with  broad  verandas  all  around,  and  sur- 
rounded by  gardens  with  wide  walks,  fountains  and  fish 
ponds,  with  pretty  shaded  arbors  covered  with  green  vines. 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  grand  pageant  came 
down  the  street,  moving  in  an  easterly  direction. 

First  came  a  native  horseman  of  gigantic  size  mounted 
upon  a  huge  black  horse.  The  rider  wore  a  helmet  of  shin- 
ing aluminum  with  a  long,  flowing  plume  of  white  and  green 
horse  hair;  a  cuirass  also  of  a  composition  of  aluminum, 
with  blue  coat-sleeves  and  heavy  gold  epaulettes,  and  a  car- 
tridge strap  of  gold  thrown  over  his  shoulder  and  across  his 
breast.  His  sword-belt  was  also  of  gold,  and  under  it  he 
wore  a  dark  green  sash  with  flowing  ends.  His  trousers 


282  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

were  of  sky  blue  with  heavy  gold  stripes  down  the  sides, 
and  he  wore  long,  black  Hessian  boots  with  heavy  gilded 
spurs.  His  horse's  bit  and  bridle  were  of  gold  and  his  sad- 
dle cloth  of  dark  green  heavily  embroidered  in  gold.  In 
his  right  hand  he  carried  a  long  lance  with  a  green  pen- 
nant near  the  lance  point.  He  also  wore  a  large  sabre  with 
an  aluminum  scabbard  and  a  gold  hilt  and  had  large  re- 
volvers in  his  saddle  holsters.  He  is  the  Minister  of  Police. 
Immediately  behind  him  rode  two  trumpeters,  uniformed 
much  as  he  was,  except  that  they  carried  no  lances,  and 
on  their  sleeves  they  had  a  series  of  diagonal  gold  bands, 
and  their  epaulettes  were  of  dark  green  fringe  and  their 
spurs  were  of  aluminum  and  each  carried  a  trumpet. 

About  ten  yards  behind  the  trumpeters  rode  a  captain  of 
men-at-arms,  armed  and  uniformed  much  like  the  first 
rider,  and  behind  him  came  one  hundred  men-at-arms  with 
uniforms  and  arms  resembling  those  of  the  captain,  except 
that  dark  green  replaced  gold  in  their  uniforms.  They  rode 
in  sections  of  twenty-five  abreast  and  were  all  mounted 
upon  superb  black  horses.  Their  plumes  and  the  pennants 
on  their  lances  were  of  bright  green. 

About  twenty  yards  behind  the  men-at-arms  came  a  na- 
tive drum-major  nearly  eight  feet  tall  and  large  in  pro- 
portion. He  wore  red-leather  boots  with  heavy  soles  and 
high  heels  which  made  his  apparent  height  about  three 
inches  greater  than  it  really  was,  and  on  his  head  he  wore 
a  white  hat  of  angora  goat  skin,  which  with  a  monstrous 
plume  of  red  and  white  ostrich  feathers  added  another  foot 
and  a  half  to  his  height,  giving  him  the  appearance  of  a 
giant  nearly  ten  feet  tall.  From  the  top  of  his  hat  hung 
a  blue  silk  pendant  with  a  tassel  of-  gold  fringe.  His  coat 
was  white  with  red  facings  and  beautifully  embroidered 
with  gold ;  his  trousers  were  of  sky  blue  with  heavy  double 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  283 

stripes  of  gold,  and  under  his  sword-belt,  from  which  hung 
his  sword,  he  wore  a  flowing  red  sash.  His  colossal  stature 
and  gorgeous  uniform  would  have  made  him  a  most  strik- 
ing figure  anywhere.  He  wielded  his  drum-major's  staff 
with  grace  and  ease.  He  was  followed  by  a  fine  brass  band 
of  sixty  members,  all  natives,  and  none  of  them  under  six 
feet  tall.  Their  uniforms  resembled  his  except  that  their 
coats  were  blue  and  their  hats  were  hussar-shaped  instead 
of  the  busby  shape.  Their  playing  was  spirited  and  of  a 
high  order. 

About  twenty  yards  behind  the  band  came  a  brigadier 
general  in  a  handsome  green  uniform  with  gold  epaulettes 
and  a  cocked  hat  with  a  blue  and  white  plume,  surrounded 
by  a  brilliant  staff  of  a  dozen  or  more  mounted  officers.  At 
a  short  interval  came  a  colonel  and  his  staff,  all  mounted 
on  beautiful  horses.  The  staff  was  followed  at  a  short  dis- 
tance by  a  fife  and  drum  corps  of  twenty-four  members, 
with  a  fine  looking  drum-major.  Then  came  a  major 
mounted,  with  his  trumpeters  and  staff,  and  after  them  a 
battalion  of  infantry,  making  nearly  thirteen  hundred  in 
all,  with  two  other  battalions  which  belonged  to  the  same 
regiment,  all  white  men,  marching  in  sections  of  twenty-five 
abreast,  and  carrying  the  national  and  regimental  colors. 
They  were  followed  by  two  more  regiments  of  infantry  in 
similar  order,  with  their  staffs,  fife  and  drum  corps  and 
colors.  In  the  second  regiment  were  one  battalion  of  white 
men  and  two  of  natives,  and  in  the  third  regiment  were  one 
battalion  of  whites  and  two  of  Japanese.  In  both  of  these 
regiments  a  number  of  the  staff  and  line  officers  were  na- 
tives and  Japanese.  The  uniforms  were  blue  coats  with  buff 
facings  and  buff  trousers,  and  leggings  which  came  to  above 
the  knees,  and  they  wore  high  leather  caps.  They  marched 
with  a  precision  which  would  have  been  a  credit  to  any 


284  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

army.  Then  came  the  agricultural  and  industrial  part  of 
the  parade  which  would  have  aroused  the  wonder  and  ad- 
miration of  anyone  who  chanced  to  see  it. 

First  came  one  hundred  native  girls,  bare-footed  and 
bare-headed,  their  magnificent,  coal  black  hair  hanging 
loose  down  to  their  waists,  and  in  a  few  instances  reach- 
ing nearly  to  their  heels.  Their  only  clothing  was  a  blue 
or  white  tunic,  without  sleeves,  and  slightly  low  at  the 
neck,  and  reaching  nearly  to  the  ankles.  In  their  hair 
and  about  their  necks  and  arms  they  had  entwined  wreaths 
of  brilliant  flowers  and  they  wore  sashes  about  their  waists 
which  were  always  in  contrast,  as  to  color,  with  their  tunics. 
Each  one  carried  in  her  hand  a  conch  shell  which  from  time 
to  time  she  blew,  producing  a  clear  and  most  powerful  note. 
All  of  these  shells  had  been  so  carefully  selected  and  tested 
that  they  sounded  in  perfect  harmony  together.  Behind 
these  girls  came  a  hundred  native  youths,  similarly  attired, 
except  that  their  tunices  reached  scarcely  to  their  knees. 
Each  one  of  them  carried  in  his  left  hand  a  long  pole  dec- 
orated with  garlands  of  flowers,  and  in  his  right  hand  he 
carried  a  cow's  horn,  pared  and  scraped  down  until  the 
horn  was  scarcely  thicker  than  paper.  These  horns  had 
been  selected  with  the  greatest  care  for  their  tones,  so  that 
they  all  blended  harmoniously  together  and  also  with  the 
conch  shells.  As  these  two  groups  walked  along  blowing 
their  shells  and  horns,  the  fullness  and  richness  of  the  har- 
mony was  beyond  all  description,  and  could  scarcely  be 
imagined  by  anyone  who  has  never  heard  it.  The  groups 
presented  a  most  picturesque  appearance  and  looked  as  if 
they  had  stepped  out  of  some  old  painting  of  Greek  my- 
thology. 

After  these  came  a  succession  of  groups  of  women  and 
girls,  all  dressed  in  the  same  simple,  picturesque  tunics,  but 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  285 

many  of  them  were  white  and  they  all  wore  sandals.  These 
people  walked  in  pairs,  one  of  each  pair  being  in  front  and 
one  behind  and  they  carried  between  them,  resting  on  their 
shoulders,  light  poles  from  which  hung  specimens  of  differ- 
ent materials,  consisting  of  almost  everything  from  plain, 
white  cotton  muslin  to  the'  richest  cloths  and  silks.  Some 
were  perfectly  plain  to  show  the  textures ;  others  were  beau- 
tifully embroidered.  There  were  also  many  articles  knit 
and  crocheted  and  some  fine  needlework  and  laces,  every 
one  of  them  made  upon  the  islands  by  those  who  carried 
them. 

Then  came  groups  of  men  carrying  poles  in  a  similar 
manner  upon  their  shoulders  from  which  hung  specimens 
of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  such  as  bunches  of  cocoanuts, 
bananas,  pineapples,  grapes,  yams,  small  branches  of  the 
coffee  and  tea  trees  and  many  other  things.  Some  of  the 
fruits  and  vegetables  were  of  great  size  and  beauty;  for 
instance,  there  were  bunches  of  grapes  that  hung  nearly 
to  the  ground,  and  cauliflowers,  cabbages  and  beets  equally 
remarkable  for  size. 

Then  came  a  very  pretty  group  of  women  and  girls,  each 
carrying  some  kind  of  a  living  bird.  Among  these  were 
parrots,  poroquets,  toucans,  peacocks  in  full  plumage,  the 
beautiful  birds  of  paradise,  golden  pheasants,  and  many 
others,  but  rarely  seen  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  After 
these  came  a  number  of  men  leading  a  variety  of  animals, 
all  so  perfectly  halter-broken  as  to  appear  quite  docile. 
Among  them  were  goats,  some  being  of  the  fine  angora  kind, 
sheep,  cattle,  horses,  deer,  camels,  elephants,  ostriches  and 
swine. 

The  camels  were  obtained  from  a  wild  herd  in  Arizona  in 
the  United  States,  which  had  decended  from  some  that  had 
been  brought  to  the  country  many  years  before  to  be  used 


286  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

in  crossing  the  great  American  desert,  but  which  had  after- 
wards been  turned  loose  and  abandoned,  and  which  in- 
creased rapidly  in  their  wild  state.  In  the  islands  they  are 
so  well  suited  to  the  climate  that  they  have  been  found 
more  serviceable  both  for  agricultural  purposes  and  for 
draught  animals  than  either  horses  or  mules. 

At  an  interval  of  about  twenty  yards  more  came  a 
mounted  major  followed  by  two  trumpeters  and  a  staff  of 
seven  officers  all  in  handsome  grenadier  uniforms  consist- 
ing of  black,  high  hats  of  cashmere  goat  skins  like  the  bear 
skin  hats  worn  by  grenadiers  in  European  armies.  They 
were  followed  by  a  fife  and  drum  corps  of  eight  members 
marching  abreast,  and  after  them  came  four  companies  of 
grenadiers  marching  in  sections  of  twenty-five  abreast. 
Their  coats  were  of  green  with  safron  facings  and  epau- 
lettes, and  they  also  wore  safron-colored  breeches  and  leg- 
gins  which  reached  above  the  knees. 

They  were  a  splendid  looking  lot  of  men,  being  remark- 
able for  their  height,  some  of  them  being  over  six  feet 
six  inches  tall,  except  one  company  of  Japanese  who  were 
small. 

After  another  interval  came  a  white  captain  of  hussars, 
with  two  trumpeters  all  mounted  on  beautiful  sorrel  horses, 
followed  by  a  troop  of  one  hundred  white  hussars,  all  sim- 
ilarly mounted.  Their  uniforms  were  white  lamb-skin  hats, 
hussar-shaped,  with  stiff,  standing  horse  hair  plumes  of 
blue,  and  blue  pendants  with  silver  tassels,  blue  coats  with 
silver  braid  trimmings,  white  corduroy  trousers  and  tan- 
colored  boots.  They  carried  sabres  and  were  also  armed 
with  carbines  and  revolvers.  Their  horses  had  the  appear- 
ance of  possessing  great  speed  and  activity;  the  men  were 
of  medium  size.  Next  came  six  mounted  trumpeters  in 
yellow  silk  uniforms  with  blue  trimmings  and  hussar  cloaks. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  287 

They  wore  broad  black  hats  and  long  black  riding  boots, 
and  carried  trumpets  from  which  hung  yellow  silk  pendants 
richly  embroidered  with  the  national  arms.  After  them 
came  a  large  chariot  or  float  drawn  by  sixteen  white  horses, 
four  abreast,  and  all  ridden  by  lackeys  in  magnificent  liv- 
eries of  blue  coats,  gold  embroidered,  with  lavendar  trousers 
and  black  cocked  hats  and  black  boots.  On  the  float  were 
some  fifty  little  girls  and  boys  who  had  won  the  principal 
prizes  at  the  schools.  They  were  all  dressed  in  white  in 
the  ancient  Greek  style,  with  sandals  on  their  feet.  On 
their  heads  they  wore  garlands  of  flowers.  They  were  both 
white  and  native  children  and  a  few  Japanese.  At  each 
corner  of  the  float  stood  a  gigantic  man-at-arms  clad  in 
complete  armour  in  the  style  of  the  mediaval  times,  and 
each  held  a  shield  emblazoned  with  the  national  arms,  and 
in  the  right  hand  a  long  lance  from  which  hung  a  gonfalon 
embroidered  with  the  national  arms. 

In  the  center  of  the  float,  on  a.  platform  slightly  raised 
above  the  rest,  sat  Stonlar  with  his  wife  and  surrounded  by 
his  children.  He  was  attired  in  a  rich  uniform  of  white 
embroidered  with  gold,  and  his  wife  was  dressed  in  white 
with  blue  trimmings,  and  the  children  were  in  white  with 
pink  ribbons  and  trimmings. 

The  great  popularity  of  the"  founder  of  this  most  pros- 
perous nation  was  attested  by  the  loud  shouts  and  genuine 
enthusiasm  which  greeted  him  as  he  passed  down  the  street. 
The  covering  of  the  chariot  was  of  green  which  made  a  rich 
background  for  the  other  colors  within.  On  one  side  of 
Stonlar,  on  a  long  flagstaff,  was  the  national  flag,  and  on 
the  other  side  his  personal  ensign. 

Behind  the  chariot  came  a  troop  of  quirassiers.  all 
mounted  on  horses  of  a  bright  bay  color  and  of  great  size. 
They  rode  in  sections  of  twenty-five  abreast,  with  their  cap. 


288  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

lain  and  his  two  trumpeters  at  their  head.  They  were  all 
white  men  of  very  large  stature,  and  wore  helmets  and 
cuirasses  with  bright  green  coats,  safron  epaulettes  and 
facings,  white  corduroy  trousers  and  long  black  Hessian 
boots.  They  carried  lances  with  long  safron-colored  pen- 
nants, and  also  had  sabres,  carbines  and  revolvers. 

Next  came  a  troop  of  mounted  engineers  on  grey  horses, 
in  chocolate-brown  uniforms  with  green  facings  and  grey 
hussar  hats  with  green  pendants  and  tassels.  They  wore 
black  boots  and  carried  sabres  and  had  carbines  and  re- 
volvers. After  them  came  a  troop  of  the  signal  corps  in 
buff  uniforms  and  blue  facings  and  forage  caps,  and  black 
boots.  They  were  armed  like  the  engineers  and  mounted 
upon  dapple  grey  horses.  After  an  interval  of  about  thirty 
yards  came  a  regiment  of  natives  lancers,  all  well  mounted 
and  preceded  by  their  colonel  with  his  two  trumpeters  and 
his  staff  of  about  thirteen  officers.  Behind  the  staff  rode 
twenty-four  trumpeters,  all  abreast,  and  after  them  came 
a  major  with  his  trumpeters  and  staff.  The  troopers  rode 
twenty-five  abreast,  and  numbered  about  thirteen  hundred 
men.  On  their  heads  they  wore  white  turbans,  and  their 
uniforms  were  short,  Turkish  blue  jackets  and  full  zouave 
trousers  of  blue,  with  red  sashes  and  red  Morocco  leather 
boots.  They  were  armed  with  carbines,  revolvers  and  sabres 
and  carried  long  lances  with  red  pennants  hanging  from 
them.  The  officers  wore  red  fez  caps  with  white  turbans 
wound  around  them.  The  jackets  of  all  the  men  were 
richly  embroidered  with  braid,  those  of  the  officers  being 
especially  handsome.  They  presented  a  most  brilliant  and 
dashing  appearance,  and  are  in  fact  a  fine  lot  of  men,  and 
as  they  have  abundant  training  they  are  good  shots,  excel- 
lent horsemen  and  skilled  in  the  use  of  their  arms. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  289 

The  grand  parade  was  closed  by  a  full  battalion  of  field 
artillery  with  sixteen  guns  and  as  many  caissons,  drawn  by 
a  fine  lot  of  horses.  The  uniforms  were  green  coats  and 
trousers  with  blue  facings  and  gray  hussar  hats  and  long 
blue  gaiters  reaching  above  the  knees.  On  their  hats  they 
had  blue  pendants  and  all  mounted  non-commissioned  offi- 
cers carried  lances  with  blue  pennants.  They  were  pre- 
ceded by  their  major  who  was  followed  by  his  two  trum- 
peters and  his  staff,  after  whom  came  eight  trumpeters 
abreast,  and  then  the  four  batteries  composing  the  battalion. 

As  the  beautiful  pageant  passed  out  of  the  city  to  the 
open  ground  at  the  east,  all  the  vessels  in  the  harbor,  some 
fifty  in  number,  most  of  them  sailing  craft,  were  seen  to  be 
in  gala  attire,  with  all  their  colors  flying  and  sails  clewed 
up,  but  with  all  their  crews  in  the  boats  in  a  long  line  be- 
tween the  ships  and  the  shore.  The  men  were  resting  upon 
their  oars. 

As  the  grand  procession  reached  a  point  opposite  to  the 
line  of  boats  the  different  divisions  halted  and  successively 
formed  on  a  great  slope  looking  towards  the  sea  and  all 
arms  were  brought  to  a  present.  At  the  same  time  the  sea- 
men in  the  boats,  which  included  both  men-of-wars-men  and 
merchant  mariners,  over  two  thousand  in  number,  in  over 
two  hundred  boats,  at  the  firing  of  a  signal  gun  from  one 
of  the  ships,  all  saluted  by  simultaneuosly  raising  their  oars 
to  a  vertical  position,  and  then  at  the  report  of  a  second 
gun,  every  oar  dropped  to  the  water  at  the  same  instant, 
producing  a  fine  effect.  Then  at  the  sound  of  a  third  gun 
they  all  moved  towards  the  shore  in  a  line,  the  formation, 
some  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  length,  being  preserved 
with  wonderful  accuracy.  But  this  was  only  for  a  moment, 
for  upon  a  signal  from  the  boat  upon  the  extreme  left  of 
the  line,  the  boats  all  swung  around  to  the  left  in  lines  of 


290  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

twelve  abreast  and  moved  away  down  the  coast  a  short  dis- 
tance, then  turning  out  to  sea  and  again  turning  to  the 
left  they  doubled  upon  their  course,  and  as  the  turn  was 
completed  they  broke  into  a  column  of  four  abreast.  As 
the  column  again  became  extended  at  full  length  along  the 
shore,  about  half  way  down  its  course,  they  broke  into  a 
column  of  two  abreast ;  then  as  the  head  of  the  column 
reached  its  original  position  it  turned  towards  the  shore  and 
to  the  left  again,  breaking  into  a  single  file  of  boats,  and 
so  passed  once  more  in  review  until  the  line  was  again  ex- 
tended to  its  full  length ;  then  at  a  signal  from  the  last  boat 
the  line  broke  into  columns  of  twelve  boats  each  in  single 
file,  all  headed  out  to  sea,  and  this  movement  was  continued 
until  the  leading  boats  were  abreast  of  the  nearest  ships 
at  anchor,  at  which  point,  at  the  report  of  a  gun  from  one 
of  the  men-of-war,  the  boats  all  broke  away,  each  returning 
to  its  own  vessel. 

As  every  boat  carried  the  national  colors  at  the  stern  and 
a  number  of  the  men-of-wars-men  carried  large  naval  en- 
signs, the  entire  spectacle  was  grand  and  imposing.  The 
seamen  were  all  in  white,  the  men-of-wars-men  having 
jackets  faced  with  red.  Many  of  them  are  natives,  and  this 
water  parade  is  exceedingly  popular,  and  so  reliable  is  the 
weather  that  only  once  in  the  seven  years  since  it  first  took 
place  has  it  been  necessary  to  omit  it. 

National  Music. 

As  the  last  of  the  seamen  reached  their  vessels,  a  gun 
was  fired  whereupon  the  yards  of  all  the  ships  were  manned 
in  a  surprisingly  short  time.  As  there  were  fully  fifty  ves- 
sels of  all  classes  in  the  line,  the  effect  can  be  more  easily 
imagined  than  described. 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  291 

I 

As  the  seamen  mounted  the  rigging  to  man  the  yards, 
all  the  musicians  ashore  assembled  to  form  a  massed  band. 
There  was  the  brass  band  of  sixty  pieces,  forty  drums,  forty 
fifes,  eighty-two  trumpets  and  bugles,  one  hundred  conch 
shells,  one  hundred  horns,  twenty  large  harps  which  had 
preceded  the  parade  and  also  twenty  very  large  xylophones, 
making  a  grand  total  of  four  hundred  and  sixty  musicians 
under  the  direction  of  the  gigantic  drum-major,  all  formed 
in  a  semi-circle  facing  the  sea,  on  a  sloping  beach  not  very 
far  from  the  water  and  in  front  of  the  chariot  containing 
Stonlar  and  his  party.  Directly  behind  the  drum-major  was 
a  tall  flagstaff.  The  troops  and  all  those  who  had  taken  part 
in  the  parade  were  massed  around  Stonlar  and  the  musi- 
cians and  they  in  turn  were  surrounded  by  upwards  of  two 
hundred  thousand  people. 

When  the  yards  of  all  the  vessels  were  manned  and  the 
massing  ashore  was  complete,  the  most  perfect  silence  pre- 
vailed for  a  moment,  and  then  an  immense  garrison  flag  of 
the  national  colors  was  run  up  to  the  top  of  the  flagstaff. 
As  it  reached  the  top  a  gun  was  fired  from  one  of  the  ves- 
sels, then  another  and  another  until  the  national  salute  of 
one  hundred  guns  had  been  discharged  in  rapid  succession. 

As  the  roar  of  the  last  gun  died  away  the  eighty-two 
bugles  and  trumpets  rang  out  upon  the  air.  When  a  few 
bars  of  rich  harmony  had  been  played  they  were  repeated 
upon  the  conch  shells  which  produced  a  strange  echo  effect. 
Then  they  were  taken  up  by  the  twenty  harps  and  twenty 
xylophones  and  repeated  by  the  horns.  The  effect  was 
something  indescribably  wild  and  striking.  Then  the  same 
chords  were  played  by  the  band  of  sixty  pieces  with  the 
fife  and  drum  corps  of  eighty  pieces.  Then  the  same  was 
taken  up  and  sung  by  the  vast  multitude,  after  which,  in 
one  grand  harmony,  all  the  musical  instruments  and  the 


292  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

entire  assembly  began  a  magnificent,  harmonious  refrain 
preserving  a  time  which  was  wonderful  in  so  great  a  mul- 
titude, and  as  it  proceeded  there  came  wafted  across  the 
water  the  sound  of  the  same  refrain  from  the  voices  of  the 
seamen  on  the  vessels  where  they  were  all  singing  on  the 
yard-arms.  Then  at  a  signal  from  the  drum-major,  all  was 
silent  again  for  a  moment.  Then  the  clear  notes  of  a  trum- 
pet were  heard;  then  all  the  trumpets  and  bugles  sounded 
together.  This  was  followed  by  a  heavy  rolling  of  all  the 
drums  which  ended  with  a  cannon  shot  from  the  fleet;  then 
came  the  notes  of  the  harps,  which  were  followed  succes- 
sively by  the  other  instruments  and  the  voices  of  the  mul- 
titude, until  all  had  joined,  leading  up  to  a  sublime  crecendo 
at  the  climax  of  which  the  entire  assembly  dropped  upon 
their  knees  with  upturned  faces  and  hands  raised  to  their 
fullest  height,  at  the  same  instant  all  the  weapons  and 
colors  were  raised  as  high  as  possible,  and  the  whole  ended 
in  a  harmony  so  full  and  rich  that  no  words  could  give  any 
idea  of  it.  This  was  the  national  hymn,  composed  by  an 
Italian  musician,  and  worthy  of  a  Wagner  or  a  Mozart.  At 
the  sound  of  a  cannon  all  arose,  the  hands,  weapons,  colors 
and  the  great  flag  on  the  flagstaff  were  dropped,  and  one 
of  the  most  sublime  and  picturesque  scenes  imaginable  was 
ended. 

The  day  closed  with  a  grand  barbecue  at  which  the  en- 
tire multitude  were  fed,  and  shortly  after  sundown  the 
town  was  as  quiet  as  if  nothing  unusual  had  happened. 

National  Games. 

The  clay  after  the  grand  parade  and  the  singing  of  the 
national  hymn,  public  games  took  place.  They  consisted 
of  races  of  almost  every  kind,  such  as  foot  races,  races 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  293 

mounted  upon  horses,  deer,  camels,  cattle,  swine  and  os- 
triches, of  which  last  quite  a  number  are  raised  on  the 
islands,  and  of  dogs  harnessed  to  carts. 

The  wrestling  matches  were  something  unique.  Nearly 
two  thousand  men  as  nearly  nude  as  decency  would  allow, 
formed  in  two  opposite  lines,  and  at  the  sound  of  a  bugle 
they  advanced  and  endeavored  by  main  force  to  cross  a  line 
drawn  upon  the  ground,  each  line  trying  to  prevent  the 
other  from  crossing  it.  After  the  contest  had  continued  for 
some  fifteen  minutes  with  tremendous  vigor,  but  without 
the  striking  of  a  single  blow,  at  a  bugle  signal  everyone  in- 
stantly remained  motionless  just  where  he  happened  to  be, 
and  without  changing  his  position,  some  on  the  ground  and 
some  straining  against  one  another  with  all  their  strength. 
It  formed  a  most  striking  tableau;  the  natives  with  their 
long  hair  standing  straight  out  from  their  heads  in  all  di- 
rections, and  the  white  men  intermingled  among  them. 
Referees  then  ran  quickly  down  the  line  to  observe  which 
side  had  succeeded  in  forcing  more  of  its  members  across 
the  line  than  the  other,  the  opponents  being  distinguished 
by  different  colored  bands  around  their  arms.  The  success- 
ful party  received  a  flag  as  an  indication  of  their  victory, 
and  at  a  third  bugle  call  all  broke  away  and  the  contest 
was  ended. 

Then  there  was  what  might  be  called  the  club  dance, 
many  hundreds  of  men  divided  into  two  parties,  and  with 
sticks  in  their  hands,  and  massed  about  ten  deep,  but  at 
intervals  of  about  four  yards  apart  both  from  right  to  left 
and  from  front  to  rear.  Then  at  a  signal  both  parties  ad- 
vanced upon  each  other  passing  and  repassing  through  the 
intervals,  all  the  time  striking  their  sticks  together  in  such 
a  way  as  to  convey  the  impression  of  a  terrific  conflict,  al- 
though in  reality  not  a  single  blow  was  struck,  except 


294  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

against  the  sticks,  even  by  accident,  as  all  moved  in  perfect 
time  and  with  the  most  exact  order. 

Then  there  was  the  lance  dance,  in  which  hundreds  of 
men  mounted  and  armed  with  lances  rode  back  and  forth 
through  opposing  lines  about  ten  deep,  clashing  their  lances 
together  as  they  passed.  As  they  passed  and  repassed  each 
other  at  a  rapid  run,  wheeling  their  horses  and  turning  back 
again,  with  their  lance  pennants  flying,  the  scene  was  a 
most  brilliant  one  and  indicated  a  very  high  degree  of 
proficiency  in  horsemenship. 

Then  there  was  what  might  be  called  the  game  of  tag  on 
horseback,  in  which  one  of  the  riders  had  to  touch  one  of 
the  others  with  his  hand.  As  the  space  was  limited,  in 
which  the  game  was  played,  there  was  an  immense  deal  of 
dodging  and  wheeling  of  the  horses,  requiring  excellent 
training  in  both  horses  and  riders. 

There  was  also  the  game  of  mounted  leap-frog,  before 
alluded  to,  in  which  a  number  of  riders  would  dismount 
and  hold  their  horses,  the  other  riders  leaping  their  horses 
over  the  standing  ones,  and  then  in  turn  dismounting 
and  holding  their  horses  while  they  were  leaped  over  by 
those  who  had  formerly  been  standing.  In  this  game  no 
saddles  are  used,  but  only  blankets  or  some  other  light  cov- 
ering strapped  upon  the  backs  of  the  horses,  and  when  the 
dismounted  men  mount,  they  always  leap  from  the  ground 
without  the  use  of  stirrups. 

The  ancient  game  of  running  at  the  rings  with  lances  was 
also  entered  into  with  great  zest,  and  consisted  in  riding  at 
a  run  past  rings  suspended,  the  aim  being  to  carry  away  a 
ring  on  the  point  of  the  lance.  The  same  exercise  was 
practiced  with  sabres,  and  there  were  fencing  matches  with 
lances  and  with  sabres. 


DOWN7FALL    OF    THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  295 

Much  interest  centered  in  trials  of  marksmanship  with 
rifles  and  revolvers  for  which  prizes  were  given  to  the  win- 
ners, and  there  were  still  other  games  which  the  writer 
cannot  now  recall.  Thus  a  week  was  taken  up,  to  the  great 
entertainment  and  benefit  of  all,  and  prizes  were  awarded 
for  merit  at  school  and  for  excellence  in  the  products  of  the 
earth  as  well  as  for  proficiency  in  athletic  exercises,  but 
all  were  so  interspersed  that  the  entire  week  seemed  to  be 
one  grand  holiday. 


296  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 


INDEX. 


Accidents.  Railway,  More  Destructive  Than  an  Invading  Army.  38 

Accidents,  Railway.  The  Remedy  for 38 

Action,  Arbitrary.  Required,  if  Just 62,  123 

"Adam  Delved  and  Eve  Span" 58 

Advice  for  Boys 166 

Airships  as   Engines  of  War 223 

Alexander  the  Great  and  Diogenses  the  Cynic 196 

American  Wages  Always  Falling;  Are  Lower  Than  Those  of 

Chinamen   or   Other    Foreigners 81 

Anthracite  Coal  Strike;  its  Causes  and  Remedy 60 

Apprenticeships  Help  Workmen 68 

Army  and  Navy 215 

An  Army  of  Greatest  Strength  at  Least  Cost 215 

Arbitrary  Action  Required,  if  Just 62,  123 

Artist  and  the  Lion,.  The 187 

Avoidable  Wastes  in  the  United  States   Exceed  $6,000,000,000 

a    Year    26 

Bad  Manners  Prevalent;  The  Remedy 55 

Balky  Horse  and  the  Stage  Driver,  The 188 

Beef  Trust  Beaten  by  a  St.  Louis  Plumber. 128 

Bessie,   Little,  Why   Everybody   Loved 183 

Boys,  Good  Advice  For 166 

How  to  Keep  the,  on  the  Farms 157 

Keep  the,  Out  of  the  Professions 160 

Save  the   36 

Building  Material  Wasted 36 

Building  Societies,  Why  They  Failed;  the  Remedy 205 

Captain  and  the   Frontiersman,  The 186 

Causes  of  High  Prices  of  Food 104 

Causes  of  High  Prices  of  Manufactured  Articles 110 

Cheap  Manufactured  Articles  Home  Made 114 

Cheating  in  Taxes  and  Customs  Duties,  How  Prevented 150 

Children's   Courts    165 

Chinaman   and   the   Rowdy 57 

City  Boy  and  the  Goats,  The 189 

Cities,  Large,  the  Greatest  Menace  to  the  Nation 95 

City  Poor,  Street  Sweepings  Would  Support 210 

Civil  War,   Effects   of  The 10 

Colored   Glass,   The 183 

Cost   of    Crime,   The 43 

Commercial   Enterprise,   Farming  Not  a 158 

Commission  Business,   How  Farmers  Can  Own  Without  Cost 

to    Them    . 155 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  297 

Compulsion   Used   in   Elections 15 

Coon  and  the  Dog,  The 190 

Contentment,  Illustrations  of 142 

Co-operative  Enterprises  Most  Successful 95,  98 

Coxey  "On  to  Washington"  Army,  The 78 

Creameries,   Waste  in 28 

Crimes  Checked  by  Whipping  Post 45 

Encouraged   by   Fines 45 

Remedy  For   44 

Cured   of  the   Drink  Habit 184 

Customs  Duties ;  Undervaluation  Prevented 150 

Coxey   Army.   The 78 

Dairy  Wastes   28 

Debts.  No   48.  267 

Delays  of  the  Law,  Most  Unjust 48,  123 

Delays  of  the  Law,  Stopped  by  the  Executive 119 

Department  Stores  and  Trusts,  a  Word  For • 138 

Destruction   of  Trusts 119,  127 

Diogenes  the  Cynic  and  Alexander  the  Great 196 

Divine  Providence  is  Kind 169 

Dog  and  the  Coon,  The 190 

Drink  Evil,  How  to  Abolish  Without  Closing  Saloons 208 

Drink  Habit,  What  Cured  Mike  of  the 184 

Dude  Engineer  and  His  Party,  The 187 

Earl  and  the   Miner,  The 185 

Economical  Rule  For  Expenditures.  An 203 

Elections   Not   Free 15 

Elephant  and  His  Tormentor,  The 189 

Elevator  Broken  by  Help  of  J.  J.  Hill 135 

Empire,  Possibilities  of  an,  in  the  United  States 227 

Empire,  the  United  States  is  an 9 

Employers  Never  Pay  Wages  of  Industrial  Workmen 89 

Envy  of  the  Rich  is  Folly 141 

Espionage  in  the  United  States 12 

Evils  of  Drink.  How  to  Abolish  Without  Closing  Saloons 208 

Examples  of  Thrift . . .  .* 201 

Executive  Only  Can  Control  Trusts,  The 123 

Executive  Stops  Delays  of  the  Law 119 

Expenses.  A  Wise  Rule  For 203 

Exports  From  the  Island  Empire 254,  266 

Factory  Hands  and  Others  Coerced  in   Federal  Elections 17 

Fads  and  Fashions  a  Miserable  Slavery 147 

Failure  of  Building  Societies;  the  Causes  and  Remedy  of 205 

Farmers,  Broke  the  Fuel  Trust,  How  the 133 

Broke  the  Grain  Trust,  How  the 136 

Can  Own  the  Packing  Houses,  Stockyards,  Railways, 

etc.,  Without  Cost  to  Themselves,  How  the 1 

Farming  Not  a  Commercial  Enterprise 158 

Farms  Produce  One-quarter  Only  of  Available  Yield 

Farm  Wastes.  Remedy  for 27 


298  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

Farmer  Worked  for   Nothing  for  Others  and   Paid    His   Own 

Board    101 

Fashions  and  Fads  a  Slavery 147 

Federal  Authorities  Are  Losing  Confidence  of  the  People.  Why     18 

Fines    Encourage    Crime 45 

Grossly  Unjust 45 

Origin  of    46 

Fire  Wastes  Enormous 31,  36 

Remedy  for    32,35 

Fireproof  Buildings  Not  Expensive 38 

Flour  Trust  Beaten  by  two  Young  Men 132 

Food,  Causes  of  High  Prices  of 104 

Football  (Rugby)  More  Destructive  Than  War 50 

Football,  Real,  Harmless  and  a  Splendid  Game 51 

Franchises    Are   Usually   Thefts 24 

Freedom  of  Election  Gone 15 

Fuel  as  Easily  Raised  as  Turnips 172 

Fuel  Trust  Broken  by  the  Farmers 133 

Genius  Defined  199 

Gentleman,  the  Most  Perfect  Was  a  Workman 58 

Gentleman.  What   is    a 57 

Goats  and  the  City  Boy,  The 189 

Government  Depends  Upon  the  Consent  of  the  Governed 79 

Grain  Trust  Broken  by  the  Farmers 136 

Good  Makes  no  Noise 56 

Guarantee  Against    Misfortune,    A 196 

Guarantee  of  Success  in  Life,  A 1% 

Happiness  Cannot  be  Bought  With  Money 182 

Happiness  Within   Reach   of  all 180 

Hard  Times,  Causes  and   Remedy  of 191 

High  Prices  of  Manufactured   Goods,   Causes   of 110 

High  Prices  of  Meats  and  Farm  Produce,  Causes  of 104 

Hill,  J.  J.,  Helped  to  Break  the  Elevator  Trust 135 

Home  Made  Articles  Cheapest  and  Best 114 

Honest  Judges  Are  Helpless 116 

Hopeful  Prospect,  A 154 

How  Trusts  Are    Formed 98 

How  to  Destroy  Trusts 1 19 

Imperial  Government  in  the  United  States 9 

Industrial  Employers  Never  Pay  Workmen 89 

Insurance,  None  Required  on  Government  Buildings 35 

Introduction    3 

Irrigation.  Great  Value  of 169 

Island  Empire,  Where  They  Are,  The 237 

No  Debts  267 

No  Jails  257,  265 

No  Taxes    257.  267 

No  Want    263 

But  Little   Litigation 278 

Voyage  of  Discovery,  The 242 


DOWNFALL    OF   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  299 

First  Expedition.  The 248 

Exports,   From    256,  266 

Industrial  and  Military  Pageant 281 

National  Games  292 

National  Music , 290 

Political  System,   Most   Effective 277 

Prompt  Administration  of  Justice 274 

Roads  and  Bridges 274 

Jails,  How  to  Abolish 210 

Judges,   Honest  Are   Helpless 116 

Justice  Requires  Arbitrary  Action 123 

Juvenile  Courts    165 

Kindness  of  Divine  Providence 169 

Labor  Market,  Overstocking  of,  How  Avoided 93,  94 

Labor  Problem  Solved,  The 71 

Labor  Troubles,    Remedy    for 60 

Lady  and  the  Puppy  Dog,  The 189 

Large  Cities  the  Greatest  Menace  to  the  Nation 95 

Legal  Delays  Most  Unjust 48 

Legal  Precedents  Destructive  of  Justice 116 

Life  in  the  Island  Empire,  The 270 

Lion  and  the  Artist.  The 187 

Litigation    Almost   Unknown 278 

Local   Combine  Broken  by  Farmers 134 

Loss  From  Fires  Enormous,  The  Remedy 31,  36 

Manners,  Bad   Prevalent,  the   Remedy 55 

"Man  Who  Wins,"  The 200 

Manufactured  Goods.  Causes  of  High  Prices  of 110 

How  Made  Cheaply 114 

Meetings.  Public,  Right  to  Hold 77 

Military  and  Industrial  Pageant  in  the  Island  Empire 281 

Military  System  Effective  and  Economical 272 

Milk  Business,  How  the  Farmers  Can  Own  Without  Cost  to 

Themselves    155 

Millionaires    Poverty   Stricken 143 

Misfortune,  Punishment  for  is  Disgraceful 214 

Money  Cannot  Buy  Happiness 182 

Money  is   Never   Wealth 145 

Money  From  United  States  Treasury  Used  in  Elections 15 

Monopolies  Aided  by  Rapid  Transit 103 

Monopolies  Not  all    Bad 138 

National  Games  in  the  Island  Empire 292 

National  Music  in  the  Island  Empire 290 

National  Wastes   Exceed  $6,000,000,000  a  Year  in  the   United 

States    26 

Navy  of  Maximum  Strength  at  Minimum  Cost,  A 219 

Neglected  Resources  in  the  United  States 29 

Noise  Does  No  Good 56 


300  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

Old  Age   Pensions 206 

Origin  of  Fines 46 

Overstocking  the  Labor  Market,  How  Avoided 93,  94 

Packing    Houses,   How   Farmers    May   Own   Without   Cost   to 

Them   155 

Pageant.  Military  and  Industrial  in  the  Island  Empire 281 

Payroll,  How  the,  Was  Collected 186 

Pensions  for  the  Aged 206 

People  Losing  Confidence  in  the  Federal  Authorities 18 

Poor  of  Cities  Could  be  Fed  From  Street  Sweepings 210 

Poor  Farms.  How  to  Abolish 210 

Possibilities  of  an  Empire  in  the  United  States 227 

Postal  Savings  Banks 206 

Poverty  Stricken  Millionaires 143 

Poverty  and  Pauperism  Unknown  in  the  Island  Empire 263 

Power,  Unlimited,  Going  to  Waste 174 

Precedents,  Legal,  Destructive  of  Justice 116 

Preface    6 

Prevention  of  Strikes 66 

Professions,  Keep  the  Boys  Out  of 160 

Providence,  Kindness  of  Divine 169 

Public    Officials   Incompetent 38 

Punishment  of  Misfortunes,  Disgraceful 214 

Puppy  Dog  and  the  Lady,  The 189 

Railway  Accidents  More  Destructive  Than  an  Invading  Army, 

the    Remedy    ." .  38 

Railways,  How  Farmers  May  Own  Without  Cost  to  Them....  155 

Rapid  Transit  Aids  Monopolies 103 

Remedy  for   Crimes 44-45 

For  Fire  Wastes    35-38 

For  Farm  Wastes   27-169 

For  Labor  Troubles    60 

For  Tax  Dodging 150 

Republic  Was  Sacrificed,  For  What,  The 17 

Resources,  Some  Neglected  National 29 

Rich  Idlers  Treated  as  Hoboes 50 

Rich,  Envy  of  the,  is  Folly 141 

Robbery,  Taxes   Are 22 

Rowdy  and  the   Chinaman,  The 57 

Rowdyism   Rampant;  The   Remedy 52 

Rugby.    Improperly    Called    Football,    More    Destructive   Than 

War    50^ 

Sage    Brush    Valuable 31 

Savings    Banks,    Postal 206 

Save  the  Boys 162 

School   Children  Starving 96 

South  Sea  Island  Bubble .  Realized,  The 237 

Spies  Numerous  in  the  United  States 12 


DOWNFALL    OP   THE    GREAT    REPUBLIC  301 

Stage  Driver  and  the  Balky  Horse.  The 188 

Stockyards.  How  Farmers  May  Own  Without  Cost  to  Them..  155 

Street  Sweepings  Would  Support  City  Poor 210 

Strike,  The  Great  Anthracite,  Causes  and  Remedy  of 60 

Strikes,   Causes  and    Prevention   of 66 

Success  in   Life   Guaranteed 196 

Suicides,  Frightful  Destruction  From 43 

Prevention  of  48 

Table  of  Contents  and  Synopses  of  Chapters 4 

No  Taxes  in  Island  Empire 257,  267 

Tax  Dodging,  How  Prevented 150 

Taxes  Are  Robbery 22 

Taxation   Without    Representation 23 

Thefts,   Franchises  Usually  Are 24 

Thrift,  Some   Examples   of 201 

Traffic.  Water  vs.   Railway 177 

Trust,  Beef,  Beaten  by  a  St.  Louis  Plumber 128 

The  Elevator  Broken  by  Aid  of  J.  J.  Hill 135 

Flour,  Beaten  by  Two  Young  Men 132 

Local   Fuel,    Broken  by   Farmers 133 

Trusts  Can  be  Controlled  by  the  Executive  Only 123 

How  Formed    -. 98 

How   to   Destroy 119,  127 

And  Department  Stores,  A  Word  for 138 

Cannot  Hold  Title  to  Property 127,  129 

Have  no  Legal  Rights 127,  132 

Cannot  Sue  or  be  Sued 128 

Use  Their  Victims'  Moneys  to  Destroy  Them 101 

The  Unkindest  Cut  of  all 17 

Unlimited  Power  Going  to  Waste  in  the  United  States 174 

United  States  is  an  Empire,  The 9 

Leads  in   Crime,   the   Remedy 43 

Treasury  Money  Used  to  Control  Elections 15 

Voters  Deceived    17 

Voyage  of  Discovery,  The 242 

Wages  of  Americans  Always  Falling 86 

Are   Lower  Than  Those  of  Chinamen  or   Other  For- 
eigners      81 

Of  Industrial  Workmen  Never  Paid  by  Employers...  89 

Should  be   Fixed  Annually 68 

Minimum  Should  be  Regulated  by  Law 272 

War,  the  Civil,  Effects  of 10 

Waste  Building  Materials 36 

In    Creameries    28 

From  Fires  Enormous,  the  Remedy 32,  -35,  38 

Power  Unlimited  in  the  United  States  Going  to  Waste.  174 

In  the  United  States  Exceeds  $6,000,000,000  a  Year...  26 


302  STARTLING    STATEMENTS 

Water  Traffic  vs.  Railway  Traffic 177 

Wealth,  Money  is  Not 145 

What  Cured  Mike  of  Drinking 184 

Whipping  Post  Checks  Crime  Most  Effectually 45 

Wins,  The  Man  Who '. 200 

Wise  Rule  For  Expenses 203 

Workhouses,  How  to  Abolish 210 

Worked  for  Others  for  Nothing  and  Paid  Their  Own  Board.  ..    101 

Workmen,  Industrial,  Never  Paid  by  Their  Employers 89 

Work  for  the  Unemployed  May  be  Easily  Provided 92 

Yield  of  Farms  Not  One-fourth  of  their  Capacity 27 


li 


UCSB    LIBRARY 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


Series  9482 


A     000656245     8 


